People Kill People - Faster and More Easily with Guns by Louis Evan Palmer
We are in the Age of Guns. In the past, it may have been a quarterstaff or a crossbow. In the future, it may be some kind of non-lethal stun weapon. But today, it's guns.There are many circumstances that can affect the utility of a carrying a gun. What country you live in being a prime consideration. Do you live in a war zone? Do you have a honest competent police force? Do you live in a high crime area? Do you live in a community or are you some distance from any population centre? Do you hunt for food?
However, among the invalid reasons for "needing" a gun is to be able to fight against a fascist takeover. You and your gun, or even your several guns, and a couple of good buddies, would not stand a chance. You would have to do what all the other freedom fighters had to do - steal weapons from your oppressors.
We're obviously attacking the NRA gospel of "Guns don't kill People, People Kill People". Although, unfortunately, we're approaching the day when guns will kill people, that is, guns attached to robots. At that point, which is arriving as we speak, we'll have embodied "the gun" in an entity that will initially fight wars but then inevitably can be used to subjucate populations under the cover of law and order.
Going back to the "Guns Don't Kill People" line of reasoning, let's also look at Weapons of Mass Destruction or WMDs. Could we not claim that "WMDs Don't Kill People, People Kill People"? It's quite clear that only countries without WMDs are invade-able. It's also clear that for smaller countries, nuclear weapons are mainly defensive in that they would be used to repel an invader and they don't have the delivery systems or numbers of warheads to make them into effective offensive weapons. The argument actually makes more sense at the national level. However, as the number of nuclear weaponized countries increases so does the danger. Limiting the club to those that have it now, or those who can surreptitiously impose it, will face continuing pressures as the threatened nations resist and smolder. The only real answer to the WMD conundrum is universal disarmament. The same answer is there for small weapons like guns but its implementation may sit unattended for many more decades. Probably only getting done when a technological innovation renders guns obsolete or unacceptably crude and violent.
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Copyright 2008 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
1 comment:
Stun Guns are a great altenative to Guns. Most people don't want to carry a deadly weapon, but at the same time need protection. Stun Guns are the answer!
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