Gun popularity is on the decline in the USA. About time. Kids shooting their way out of 20th century boredom isn't exactly public health policy. For a Dutchman it seems a ridiculous argument--?????--but I hate to tell you dutchies that this discussion is no joke. Gun magazines proliferate in the supermarkets, commodifying male toughness, and you can still buy them in the stores after they quickly check your record. Like the pawn shop accross the street from us in Knoxville. Well, I could not handle it anymore and had to write something about it to the local University paper after an obnoxiously article, getting myself in more discussion. So, wanna know how some Americans think on the issue? You can read it below.
Reply from Mr. Brunk a reader:
"Mr. de Vries,
I read your letter in response to the letter Mr. Thompson wrote which
was in response to Leigha Baugham's horribly misguided editorial.
I
found your letter very entertaining, but I am writing to you to ask
for
some clarification on your point. Are you telling me that you
disagree
with what Mr. Thompson said about guns being inanimate objects?
Do you
really believe that a gun, because of its inherent "gunness" incites
people to commit murder? Does that mean if I own a shovel I am
immediately compelled to go shovel dirt every time I lay eyes on it?
Huh? By this argument, if we rid society of objects, we can rid
it of
ideas. Explain to me why gun control hasn't worked in Russia,
China,
Viet Nam, Korea, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium,
etc. etc. These are countries where private citizens do not have the
legal right to own most types of firearms. Why hasn't violent
crime
disappeared in those countries? Why haven't guns disappeared?
Obviously, the legal availability of guns or other weapons has no
correlation to criminality. Criminals will commit crimes with
guns
whether or
not they are "legal."
Guns are simply tools, which have the unfortunate but
necessary purpose of facilitating deadly force. That is the definition
of a weapon. But it is absolutely the responsibility of the user
to
decide how and when a weapon will be utilized. Guns aren't always
equal
to violence. As a teenager, I was a top smallbore rifle shooter
in New
York state. I personally owned several rifles and I can attest
that
their presence in my house did not cause me to think or act violently,
and despite the way I was sometimes treated by my classmates, I never
once considered a violent shooting rampage. Some high schools
still
have shooting clubs and teams, it is an NCAA sport and an olympic sport.
So, logically,
if there is just one example that doesn't fit your model, then your
model is wrong.
I suspect you have not done much research on this issue. If you
look
beyond the popular press, beyond the biased anti-gun news media (and
their
ridiculous and flawed statistics), and way beyond the bogus reality
of
Hollywood,
you will find that guns are used more often to deter violence than
to
promote it. Throughout history,
the show of force has been used more times than actual force to resolve
a conflict. Look at some unbiased (or at least less-biased) sources:
http://www.gunowners.org/sourcetb.htm,
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-2
84es.html,
or read John R. Lott's book "More Guns Less Crime" (Lott was
an avowed anti-gunner until he did this research).
http://civilliberty.about.com/library/blgun.htm?pid=2771&cob=home
http://www.gunowners.org
I wasn't going to respond to you because I'm a big enough man to let
you
be wrong.
However, I am tired of being labelled as a radical due to my belief
in
self-defense. What's more I'm very tired of my own government,
run by
people like you, who want to increasingly tell me how I should think
and
act and what I can and can't do. I'm a responsible adult and
only I
know what is best for me.
Sincerely,
Benjamin D. Brunk
School of Information and Library Science"
"Dear Mr. Bunk,
Thank you for your response. I do indeed think it is extreme to say
that guns are merely inanimate objects. I am not saying guns are
jumping in our hand trying to convince us to "please pull the
trigger". Obviously, you have been very able to deal with guns, and
there are surely many other folks who have grown up with weapons.
Indeed, so have we done al throughout history.
However, guns are not "neutral" objects and it this idea i want to
dispute. In the same manner as a wall forces you to go another way,
or a car
allows you to drive to the store instead of walk, do guns suggest you
could
for example
shoot your way out of your personal problems. Again, I realize that
there
are many
people--the gross majority--who feel "safer" with guns and don't intent
to
use them in the way I just suggested. But fact remains that guns do
have an
influence on the way we think, as is with all objects in life. The
shovel
does not motivate you to read a book, or does it? And the book doesn't
motivate you to go dig either. This does not mean that there would
be
no ideas without objects. This is an absurd notion, since there will
always be "objects" since we are living in a physical reality, although
I
can do
the mental exercise and indeed wonder if we had any cognition if there
was
nothing but our electical brainwaves. The issue is that we humans have
separated ourselves from our environment by imposing a duality between
us--"subjects"--and the physical world--"objects"--which has allowed
us
assume that objects are "objective" as much as that scientists are
"objective" when doing science. It is not a new
philosophical thought to say that objects interact with us in our
consciousness, and thus what we call an "object" is a reflection of
our
thoughts, and thus a 'subject-object", or "object-subject". This
all sounds
way out there, but if you'r einterested try reading "We
have never been modern" by bruno latour . This is not just my position:
I
think your belief that a gun is merely an object is based on learned
cultural assumptions, and that believe it in because everybody else
does.
Furthermore, Americans are very materialistic,
caring not much about objects to motivate expendability and consumption.
Of course you never considered a violent shooting rampage. Unfortunately,
other kids are so used to the presence of guns--like you--and perhaps
not as
psychologically stable as you, and the gun is just one of many possibilities
to act that out. Thus, you can't blame the gun alone, but the easy
availability of a deadly weapon does change the dynamics of a raging
teenager's live, and as such public safety as a whole. In Europe a
kid would
have a hell of a trouble finding a gun--believe me I grew up in the
Netherlands--let alone grabbing one in a temporary rage of irrational
aggression on the way out of the door to school. So, again, it is not
a
matter of blaming it all on the gun, but the gun does make it easier
to do
more harm. In essence, the kid is fucked up, not the guns, I admit
that, but
the context includes the gun, as an
object with the funcitonal purpose of aggression. In medieval times
there
were weapons as well. Do you realy think that therefore we should allow
that
as well? Is that "natural"? Ever heard of the ideal of cooperation?
I don't think you assessment of gun control in other countries is entirely
correct. First of all, every culture has its own history and way of
dealing
with problems. Obviously, the USA has always been the "wild west" which
still serves as a basis for the NRA's popularity. you cannot compare
the
history of the USA with that of germany, where knights fought each
other for centuries and cultural values and morals have evolved entirely
differently than in the frontier pioneering forward looking American
vision.
The differences with Viet Nam, Korea, or other eastern countries is
even
more pronounced. I would not begin to make any
assumptions about why there still is crime there. The whole idea that
one
could find the perfect recipe to fight crime is false, because it differs
per context. In the USA guns motivate murders, gang shooting, and cultural
paranoia. Can you ever realy trust somebody? It is so bad here that
the
media in Cincinatti even warns car drivers to not look
at other car drivers, "they might get angry"--and they have guns. In
Europe
there is aggression as well, but the unavailability of guns motivates
physical violence--a blue eye, or knife fights--but no kids raving
through
schools with guns. What would you prefer? Have you ever lived in any
of
these countries of which you are so convinced gun contror la ws don't
work??
What are your criteria for judging this? What do you mean when you
talk
about crime?
You have been brainwashed by American rhetoric. As I have been
brainwashed by European rhetoric. The only thing we can do is look
for
some empirical evidence based on careful comparison. I have lived here
long enough to have made up my mind. When are you going to Russia,
Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, or Belgium?
Oh...
"So, logically, if there is just one example that doesn't fit your
model, then your model is wrong." Don't believe all that crap
man. You are
buying into the scientist fantasy. Do you think models are "laws"?
Do you
think the same kind off
physical science accuracy ("gravity pulls down") applies to social
issues??
You're wrong dude. Not even in physics things are that simple. Ever
heard of
the definition of models as "simplifications of reality"? In economic
they
call it "ceteris paribus", and it is the
biggest lie of mankind. Complexity man. context.
If you are tired of being labelled as a radical due to your belief in
self-defense, why don't you try listen what others have to say? And
what the hell is the connection to the government?? What do I have
to
do with the government?? Again, you are buying into one of these cheap
American skapegoat arguments where only one factor is supposed to be
at the root of all evil. "let's blame government like everybody else
does". Come on man, you can do better than that! Government is there
for the social good, like that damn piece of school you are getting
your cheap education at.
Go travel.
Sincerely,
Danny
----------------------------------------------------------
Danny de Vries
Department of Anthropology
University of North-Carolina at Chapel Hill
Devries@email.unc.edu
----------------------------------------------------------"
MAKE THE WORLD A SAFER PLACE... BUY A MACHINEGUN!
