Sticks and stones or AR-15s?

 

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones" - Albert Einstein

We've come a long way. From the almost bipedal creature that could only get as far off the ground as the highest tree it could climb, to the above the clouds 30.000 feet birds of steel taking us faster and farther than our ancestors could possibly fathom.

And yet, we are still the same as those poor, frightened, monkey-like cave dwellers that fear the lightning and the subsequent crash of thunder that had the first storytellers invent magical beings fighting in the skies or punishing us for our trespasses.

It is amazing and baffling to me how much we've changed yet how we are still the same when we let our so-called leaders govern us by fear. Fear of poverty, fear of internal or external enemies (be it real or imagined), fear of communism, of terrorism, of our neighbors, of our own friends and family.

The best example are the United States of America. The recent streak of mass shootings had (yet again) cracked open the proverbial can of worms about gun ownership regulation and the adulated second Amendment.

I have recently and rather uncharacteristically got involved in a thread on Twitter (yes, I guess I'm that old) where people were quick to attack anyone who remotely suggested that more safeguards should be put in place in order to have a stricter control on who is actually fit to own a gun and has a good reason to ask such a permit.

One of the most absurd reasons that I've read was that this was the only way to protect the citizens from dictatorship as well as from FOREIGN INVADERS.

Now let's take each of those arguments (apart) and see if they make any sense.

First off, I don't believe there has been any moment in the rather short history of the New World where Americans had to put up with any form of totalitarianism. Meanwhile, slavery, on the other hand, doesn't seem to register anywhere or bear any relevance in all this discussion, though.

To me, saying that it's because of said guns that there has been no dictatorship, reminds me of a joke about a guy who was gently tapping his fingers on a table. When asked what he was doing, he simply replied: "I'm scaring off tigers". "But I don't think there are any tigers around here", the other one said. "See how effective my method is?", the first one concluded.

My point is fear isn't rational, preparing for something doesn't necessarily mean it's the reason why it's not happening. People need to trust the system and its institutions, rather than taking matters into their hands.

Moving on to the ridiculous assumption that it's civilian gun owners that scare off any potential enemy from invading the US makes me literally laugh out loud. It's so preposterous I can't even begin to imagine how somebody could even come up with such nonsense.

If there's anything that keeps those real or make-belief enemies at bay, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the nuclear capacities and impressive armed military forces that we hear about and see on TV. No, it's the bazooka and AR-15 rednecks who need to wear weapons when they go shopping at Toys'R'us, just in case a toddler decides to deploy a WMD in the middle of the mall.

It's pathetic, is what it is! Those proud boys (and they really are afraid , little boys) are so out of touch with reality that they actually think they are safer carrying those guns without even realizing how they're doing nothing but reinforcing everybody's fears of gun-related violence.

There's just one more thing I'd like to say on this matter: there's no middle ground with these people. Stricter gun control equals no gun ownership of any kind among civilians (which would actually not be that bad, but don't let them hear you saying that).

But it's in their nature to overreact like this. How else could you explain that in a country that has (to my knowledge) never had an actual international conflict on its soil fears so much an invasion that it feels the need to wear assault weapons just for a coffee run?

Meanwhile mass shootings happen because almost anybody can procure a gun (and not just through illegal means) and all the American people do is either ignore them or actually use it to justify the need for even MORE weapons. Cause who doesn't want their kindergarten have armed guards or teachers, right?

And it really is all about perception. I remember the first time I saw military in the streets in France, just patrolling with their automatic weapons on display. My first reaction was: what's going on?! Why do we need armed soldiers to guard us? My sister-in-law, who had been living there for years didn't spare them a second glance and simply stated "I actually feel safer knowing they're here to protect us".

I guess I've said my piece, except this: I think I've heard it in Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine that in America more people die in shootings a year than in all other countries combined. I've recently been made aware by a gun supporter it was (no longer?) true to our days and that in Mexico alone there are more deaths. To people like him, I only want to ask you this: what happened to that great America, that made it stoop so low as to compare itself with a drug cartel infested country?

I guess any argument will do as long as it allows gun totting lunatics to keep their guns that their children eventually use to (accidentally) shoot themselves or their teachers and colleagues.

Sounds to me like the only invasion force that they should fear is not even at their thresholds, but in their very homes.

In conclusion, I leave you with this: there's nothing worse that anybody in the world can do to Americans that they aren't already doing or have done to themselves.