A gun is generally defined as a tube based mechanism that launches some form of projectile through an internal source of explosive energy that forces the projectile out through the tube.
Systemically, a gun is a man made portable mechanism that directs energy toward the launch of projectiles. The purpose of the gun is to damage or kill, to practice skill via targets, to collect for enjoyment or profit, or to control, threaten, or deter people.
These same purposes can be served by various other directed energy mechanisms such as bombs, grenades, missiles, artillery, bow and arrow, or stones.
Other systemic forms that also can be applied for these purposes are knives, hard or heavy objects, various kinetic forces that involve the legs, arms or mouth, man made chemical or biological compositions, certain machines or vehicles, whips and chains, traps and prisons, and so on….
Systemically (ignoring the non lethal skills and practice aspects of guns and ignoring hunting) Y Worlds views guns across the following spectrum of models:
SWAY: Who has the power to influence large scale changes that affect guns and weapons?
First and foremost, guns are a mechanism of SWAY. They influence, deter, carry the potential for superior force in order to threaten, defend, provoke, escalate, deter, injure and kill.
Coordinated groups of people with guns become a major mechanism of SWAY – they project deadly force. And people with very powerful and effective guns become the superior force until overcome by even more powerful guns or a more overwhelming force.
Guns carry SWAY. Guns transmit SWAY. And once a gun is introduced, it begins a systemic process of escalation that only stops when a superior power interjects itself, when a body gains complete and utter control through the use of massively superior force, or when an entire society rejects their existence and use while protecting themselves from invaders who have guns. The history of the world is the escalation and projection of force by some – domination, tyranny and genocide of many by a few.
But guns certainly are not the only source of SWAY. Forces of SWAY include economic domination, police and military domination, all forms of physical violence, all forms of verbal and behavioral violence, all forms of governmental tyranny and corruption, and all of the behaviors induced by placing people in a survival mode or inculcating people to hate. Guns most often kill because of hate, because the victim is not viewed with value or because the victim stands between the perpetrator and a high SWAY objective – money, survival, status. What induces or programs a person to act is SWAY. Guns are a representation of force and carry SWAY.
Human Constructs: The ways we think about guns.
Guns are an inherited human construct. The perception of guns, the availability and ownership of guns, the culture relating to guns differs across the spectrums of human dimensions – where people live, their age, their religion, their education, their cultural networks, the mass media they consume etc.
I have witnessed thousands of gun murders vicariously via television, movies and video games.
You probably have witnessed a similar number of mediated murders and shootings. There are parts of the world where any direct or mediated experience with gun murders is nil. We are programmed through our life experience to think about guns and violence in certain ways. Many of us accept the programming. Some of us question, retract or reprogram ourselves.
Systemically, guns cannot be viewed as a word or as a piece of metal machinery. To understand all of the constructs attached to guns, we need to understand how our mind works. When you see the word GUN, your mind immediately fires thousands of neurons that carry the essential meaning of the word to your conscious and subconscious. The pattern of these neurons determines how you think about guns. The essential meanings come up as positive, neutral or negative. As disgust or excitement. As acceptance, resignation or activism. As visions from past experiences or memories that carry weight.
Guns cannot be understood without consideration of:
Inherited local and family traditions
The technology of the machine
The cost of the machine
The capability and functionality of the machine
The regulatory frameworks
The context of acquisition and training
The law enforcement environment
The punitive criminal justice environment
Competitive alternatives
Synchronized mass use
Security enforcement
Your life experience with guns
The legitimated public carriers of the machines
Public conscious and subconscious understandings
Resources to derail anger and hate
Resources to derail compelling harmful forms of SWAY
Resources to prevent harmful behaviors
The behaviors of those around us
Media portrayals
The projections of what will happen if nothing intervenes
The projections of what will happen if there are interventions
The projections of the forces and exchanges and systems of SWAY given various scenarios
Disruptions and unexpected events
The inherited momentums and beliefs systems and programming
The opportunities for Nurture, Equality, Truth and Systems
Nurture, Equality, Truth & Systems
How we understand and manage guns at the highest level of rational systemic objectives.
Once guns or any major source of SWAY are introduced into a human system they disrupt every aspect of NETS. Every gun is a symbol of the threats to Nurture. Having to have a gun to protect oneself is on a certain level a Nurturing behavior because it may modestly deter or preclude violence. However, on a larger systemic plane the introduction of a gun moves the entire domain of Nurture away from any pure dedication to Nurture and instead begins the inevitable slide into battles of force and power, action and reaction, that can never return to the Nurturing equilibrium of a gunless world. The discussion becomes how can I protect myself from my neighbor rather than how can I help my neighbor. Guns are a mediated form of harm. Guns become easier to use because they distance oneself from the victim. Economic weapons work the same way – driving people into survival mode via the remote control of economic captivity similarly causing harm and encouraging the survival of the most powerful.
Some view guns as a great equalizer. Yes, at a certain level they empower the weak and disrupt, deter or dismantle the tyrannies of the strong. But if the context and interaction is force against force, that becomes an escalating cycle that is very difficult to stop. The essence of Equality is that force should not be necessary to achieve a sustainable life, to protect oneself from tyranny, or to achieve the same rights as others.
Guns have nothing to do with the pursuit of Truth but have everything to do with the disruption of high potential systems. There is no way of life, no system of government, that enables people to achieve their individual and societal potential when violence and fear dominate the societal fabric.
There are more models that Y Worlds applies to the subject of guns, or any other topic.For now, our summary about guns is quite simple, but the dimensions of understanding remain quite complex.
First, we ask about objectives, then meaning and then value.
What is our objective?
If it is to live at peace with ourselves and our neighbors, guns will not get us there.
With hatreds, there will be bombs and biologicals and chemicals and infrastructure hacks and acts of terror that cause great harm.
A commitment to NETS will move us toward peace with everyone, everything and ourselves.
Taxing and regulating all aspects of guns, like cigarettes, alcohol and cars, makes sense. Taxing redistributes potential harms toward potential Nurtures. Taxing reimburses society for their direct and indirect costs, and enables society to invest in alternatives. Regulating access and use and machine function applies a systemic mechanism to reduce potential harms.
What is the meaning of guns?
Guns are machines with symbolic meaning that project SWAY. Those with fear, anger, hate, desperation, and certain psychosis embrace the power of guns. Those that behave with violence embrace the power of guns. Many embrace guns through their inherited life experience. Guns are inextricably linked to culture and norms. More powerful guns enable killers to kill more people before society can respond. Guns drive escalations in machines and alternative forms of weaponry – superior SWAY. There are many equivalent harms – bombs, reckless driving, addictions, unsafe products, boxing, deprivation
What is the value of guns?
Against other guns they become a limited deterrent and a limited form of protection.
And there are innumerable ways to cause harm but only the mind creates the source of harm.
There are many alternative paths toward peace, toward deterrence and protection, toward de-escalation of the arms race and reductions in violence, that systemically offer greater benefits at a lesser cost. They all involve a conscious and subconscious, effortful, systemic reprogramming toward NETS.
READ THE ORIGINAL POST HERE.