I found Kenevan McConnon’s diary on his trip to the gun shop incredibly interesting yesterday. It all started out well, with most people agreeing that gun control wasn’t politically feasible and really wasn’t a priority for most. I wholeheartedly agree with those views. Personally, I think that addressing problems with the Drug War and drug addiction would do the most to help lessen gun violence in this country. However, as the day wore on I became less and less enamored of gun lovers in the diary. To me, their comments reminded me more and more why talking to Libertarians often leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I began to see this issue as a microcosm of the societal problems I see with this country.
It seems to me that there is a particular bent towards selfishness which pervades the ideas and rhetoric in this country right now. In talking with one poster, I used a horrible basketball analogy to try to understand those so virulently opposed to any regulation of guns. Essentially, I love playing basketball. But if Democrats tried to limit the amount of basketballs I could own or said that I could only use basketballs that were a little flat, I wouldn’t start voting Republican over it. Further, if companies were designing basketballs that were made in such a way that criminals had started to daily use them to throw so hard at people that they could kill them, I probably wouldn’t mind if the government stepped in to regulate, in some way, the sale of ALL basketballs. In fact, I’d probably be asking for regulation myself. As long as they still let me have a couple normal basketballs to shoot hoops that would be fine. Hell, it would be cool if the really great basketballs that were also a little dangerous in the hands of criminals were available for me to play around with at licensed gyms. I’d totally be on board with that.
This type of thinking is anathema to those who love their guns and I know the reason why. It is all part of a larger world view, (with most not all). I grew up in a very small (less than 1000 people... we had the first day of deer hunting season off school) town in Michigan, so I’ve been saturated with gun advocates my whole life. With gun lovers there is, generally, a very strong distrust of government bordering on paranoia with many. It’s all part of some gigantic feedback loop, and it all starts with the premise that the government is inherently bad. It goes like this "The government is evil because they want to take my guns and clearly since the government is trying to take my guns, that means I need more guns to protect my gun rights (powerful ones) because the government is going to try take my guns... which makes them evil." It feeds this paranoia and drive to get more guns.
It is part of a larger narrative of many that grows to encompass personal liberty vs. societal good. I think the attitude of many in this country has tipped toward "convenient personal liberty", which in reality for many just means "what’s best for me, personally". I don’t see much willingness right now to even recognize or sacrifice "what’s best for me, personally", in any way, for fellow citizens. I’m not one to advocate an imposition of "societal good" on others, because that is a very slippery slope indeed. However, I wish more people would willingly give up some of the things that they think they are entitled to in order to foster a better society. I wish people would willingly give up their gigantic SUV’s, just because they recognize that it may be better for their entire society to do so. I wish the rich would spurn more tax cuts, especially during a time of war, because it’s the right thing to do for their country. I wish people would be willing to give up some of their guns, because they realize that even though they use them legally, the ubiquity, availability, and power of some guns fosters a societal disposition towards gun violence. That an arms race mentality encourages the use of guns. Gun lovers are NOT that way. That’s what I found so dispiriting with the discussion yesterday. All the people commenting yesterday who clearly loved their guns were not willing to give an INCH because of their personal interest in guns. They essentially repeated sophisms of the highest order like "guns don’t kill people, people do". I found the willful disdain for compromise coming from gun advocates maddening. I found their likening of buying guns to ANY legal product maddening. I found their total inability to acknowledge that innumerable other products are regulated or that ALL laws by their very nature limit someone’s liberty bordering on delusional. I found their inability to connect the dots between widespread legal use and availability with widespread illegal use and availability mind boggling. For example, cold products, used almost exclusively in a legal manner are now highly regulated around the country because the widespread use and availability of those products made it easily available for criminals to use in an illegal manner. What is hard to understand here?
Why is no one in this country ready to willingly, gladly give up some of the things they think they need, that they think they’re entitled to just because it MIGHT make a better country for the rest? Why is everything always "me first"? We always have been, and always will be, at our best as a society when we come together and make sacrifices for our friends and neighbors. When we come together, with regard for, rather than fear of our fellow citizens we achieve great things. Rather than cast the government aside as a ceiling on our liberties, as an inherently bad tool of authority, we use it for the betterment of all. That’s why I love FDR. That’s why I call myself a Democrat. Can’t we do better?