I was on YouTube last night, and by following the Related Videos boredly, seeing where I'd get, I got to a video about guns. (Try it some time. Start with a subject and just click Related Videos, and see where you end up. Or try it on Wikipedia. Interesting things can happen.) Some guy was talking about how he was an avid gun owner, but was going to vote for Obama. For whatever reason, it's not allowing me to see the comment made by a person anymore, but from my memory, he called Obama a socialist Nazi, and that if you wanted good information on the candidates, go to NRA's website. Oh also, he threw the term "Osama Obama around." I decided to respond with this.
"Please, let's not be so ignorant to throw the term Nazi out just because you disagree with someone's policies. I don't like McCain, or Hillary, or a thousand other people, and I certainly disagree with Obama on some things. But to associate them with a group that caused the deaths of millions is just irresponsible as a human being."
Guess what the response was that I got from a 33 year old man? "Cry me a river." Well now, that gets me on to my topic.
Guns. I believe in the 2nd amendment, but to a certain point. I loved the part in Bowling For Columbine where Michael Moore is talking to a guy about the 2nd amendment, and the right to bear arms. Not necessarily guns, but arms. Which includes nuclear weapons, so Michael Moore asks him if he thinks people should be able to own nuclear weapons. The guy replies something like "Well no, there's wackos out there."
So going down from that to stuff like Assault Weapons. I can understand owning shotguns and handguns. But personally, I think having an assault rifle in your house is a little excessive. You're not going to go hunt a deer with that. The only reason is for 'personal protection.' I suppose. I can see how people would feel safe with an assault rifle at their disposal, but if you feel the need to have such a weapon to feel safe...Well, there's obviously bigger problems going on in the society, because you appear to be living in a warzone then. And it's extremely unlikely that you're going to be broken in to anyway, and if you are, it's likely you're asleep. So your assault rifle isn't helping you much anyway.
I guess I think it goes back to the culture of fear that we've been talking about in class. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm willing to bet that most of the world would feel LESS safe with an assault rifle in their house. So why is having such a dangerous weapon near us comforting, for some people? Does it make them feel more like a man, because they can protect their family from a freak rabid bear attack? I don't know, but I keep coming back to the quote from Albert Einstein. "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
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2 comments:
That is a great quote. And I can't imagine anything more true.
Charleton Heston at times went so far as to advocate universal gun ownership. If everyone has a gun, everyone is responsible for their own safety. I, however, much prefer Chris Rock's point of view - make a bullet worth five thousand dollars and you're not going to get many innocent bystanders killed. But really, why advocate universal gun ownership when you get the same effect with no weapons at all! The second amendment was created during a unstable and uncertain time - and at a time where most of the more excessive weapons were not yet invented.
By the way, what is with recreational hunting? That is a sport that I just don't understand. Let's go shoot some innocent animals for fun. Hunting for food I understand, but why quail hunting? The things already have a crappy enough existence before they have to be pelted to death with birdshot.
I agree with you about the part of how if you need an assault rifle to make you feel safe--what's the bigger issue in your society that makes you feel so insecure? It gets to the bigger issue in America that what is making us feel so unsafe?
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