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The Philosophy of the Gun

102K views 671 replies 77 participants last post by  hardline_42 
#1 ·
I hope this will be an interesting discussion.

What is your philosophy on firearms and how do you support your belief? Are guns good or bad? Should they be banned or not?

I'm interested in hearing what everyone has to say.

Cheers!
 
#4 ·
Guns are at the core of our national identity. Our society worships the icon of the cowboy. It romanticizes the mobster. The images are endless, but that doesn't make it right.

Guns are a serious issue. I'm not a constitutional scholar, but my humble opinion is that the second ammendment is antiquated. It may very well be that we in the United States do have a few rotten apples spoiling the barrel, but adding more apples doesn't solve the problem.

Now, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, but this one is worth mentioning. (granted, this one is about five years old, but I doubt it's changed much) If you add the populations of Great Britain, France, Denmark, Spain, Canada, Germany, and Italy - you get a population roughly equal to that of the United States. The US murder rate was more than double the murder rate of all those countries combined. DO you think it's because the people in the US are more homicidal, or because those countries have strict gun control laws?

And I don't buy the whole "for my protection" arguement either. I don't care how good of a marksman you are - your weapon has more of a chance of being used AGAINST you than protecting you.

If you like to hunt - great. Buy a shotgun. Last time I checked, one didn't need a glock, modified AK 47, or bazooka to hunt deer.

When our great country was founded, you needed a firearm to survive. We certainly needed them to kick the brits back across the pond. (twice) Before the US Civil War, the country's military was horribly small, making local militias necessary for protection. In the 21st century, our needs are different. In the words of my father-in-law, (a former marine, and captain of the a local police department) "the more people have guns, the more dangerous everybody is."
 
#5 ·
There are very few gun control measures I support. Ex-felons should not be allowed to purchase firearms (perhaps ever again). Mentally ill people should also not be allowed to purchase firearms. To own a full automatic weapon, one should have to apply for and get a permit, and those are the only firearms I believe need be registered.

And that's about it.

Also, armor piercing rounds, incdinary rounds, and other nonstandard rounds should be subject to limited access/banned based on the individual states. The Constitution implies the states have the majority of the control here. I do not believe handgun bans are legal (nor does the Supreme Court). That being said, if California wants to require registering your guns, that is their right. If you don't like it, move to a state that doesn't.

I also don't believe firearm manufacturers should be responsible for someone doing something stupid with a gun. If you get up tomorrow, take your gun and kill me with it, that is not the manufacturer's fault. If you get up tomorrow, get drunk and run someone over in your Toyota Prius because they drive a Hummer, they would have no standing sueing Toyota because they built the weapon used.

Guns are far less dangerous than many other things.

Before jack or skysov put down the peace pipe to argue, biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons are not firearms. Nor are missiles, rocket launchers, gernade launchers, gernades, rockets, flamethrowers, or other weapons that are not conventionally firearms.

fire·arm /ˈfaɪərˌɑrm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fahyuhr-ahrm] -noun a small arms weapon, as a rifle or pistol, from which a projectile is fired by gunpowder.
 
#7 ·
A firearm is nothing more than an assemblage of machined (generally) metal parts. It is neither good or bad. For some, firearms are simply a tool used in their work. For others they may be the implement, through which the owner enjoys a hobby. Humans are the catalytic ingredient that bring good or bad into consideration. As for whether they should be banned, doesn't the second amendment say it all?
 
#8 ·
+1 to Eagle2250

I have no romanticism either way about the tool.

I am libertarian and oppose all encroachments on liberty. For all I care, the Kwik-E-Mart can sell firearms next to donuts. I hope the cashier would not sell to unaccompanied small children, but it's his call.

An armed society is a polite society. Relying on the government (or anyone else, really) to protect your life is an unacceptable risk.

The (US) constitutional reason for personal firearm rights is to ward against rogue governments, like we have now. Unfortunately, the wording is correct and a well-regulated militia is required to fight the government. Individuals cannot do it alone, nor small bands of paramilitary wannabes. In this age of telecommunications, an organized armed citizen militia would have no problem resisting a state-sponsored force when necessary. In fact, it has been done in Iraq for several years now.
 
#9 ·
I'm not a constitutional scholar, but my humble opinion is that the second ammendment is antiquated.
Luckily the Supreme Court disagrees.

DO you think it's because the people in the US are more homicidal, or because those countries have strict gun control laws?
More homicidal. Ignoring the whole homogenous society argument, it says here that "The U.S. has a higher non-gun murder rate than many European country's total murder rates." Rates, not total numbers.

Before the US Civil War, the country's military was horribly small, making local militias necessary for protection.
Horribly cheap and effective too. Also friendlier to the general populace because they were the general populace.
 
#10 ·
Guns are, like eagle said, nothing but a collection of parts. They are only as dangerous, or safe, as are the people in who's hands they end up. Much like an automobile which can also be a deadly weapon in the hands of the wrong person.

I own a gun along with a permit to carry it, although I will admit that I almost never do. In fact, it hasn't left the house in over a year and then it was just to go to the firing range. I might fire it more often if I didn't hate cleaning the thing so much. :icon_smile_big:

Speaking as a gun owner I am in favor of strict compliance and harsh penalties for those who are negligent or commit crimes with firearms. I say "negligent" because gun ownership is a voluntary act and with it should come heightened responsibility with severe penalties for failing to maintain that level of responsibility.

As for the criminal element, they are going to have guns anyway regardless of whether we take them away from law abiding folks. For example, I believe that Washington D.C. has some of the strictest gun contral laws in the country and just take a look at their homicide rate. Go figure.

Cruiser
 
#11 ·
The Constitution doesn't say anything about "firearms". It talks about the right to keep and bear arms. I have never seen a principled argument that the Constitution provides an individual right to own rifles, shotguns, or pistols, that doesn't apply equally well to machine guns, bazookas, tanks, or nuclear weapons. Furthermore, "shall not be infringed" does not, by its terms leave some kind of regulation open to state governments that is denied to the federal government.
 
#12 ·
Luckily the Supreme Court disagrees.

More homicidal. Ignoring the whole homogenous society argument, it says here that "The U.S. has a higher non-gun murder rate than many European country's total murder rates." Rates, not total numbers.

As I stated earlier - lies, damn lies, and statistics. We, and the rest of our allies on the left and right, can skew the numbers any way we want to make our point. None of us are 100% correct in the end.

I don't think it's realistic to expect our society to ban guns. Again, quoting myself, guns are too entrenched in our national identity to make that plausible. I think that's tragic. I will admit that gun control policy does us no good if our laws are unenforceable - and we can thank congress for that. Not only do we need extenseive background checks and bans on assult weapons, but we need bans on ammunition for such weapons and better human intelligence to combat the worldwide black market for guns.

But that still doesn't get the heart of it, does it? We still haven't answered the question of: should you or I be allowed to own a gun simply because we want to? I say no. I think it's a dangerous step toward the wild west. If you ask law enforcement (and they are the people we SHOULD be talking to on this issue - any police officiers on the forum?) I think most would say they worry about an armed society.

Somebody come up with a good way to keep guns out of the hands of ciminals without infringing on the 2nd ammendment, and I'll listen and plan to be wrong. I think all owning a gun does is tempt the owner to use it. Until then, I think we've got to answer this question: what's more important? Our right to own a gun, or the right for us to walk down the street and not worry about who has a gun?

I respectfully recommend "America Declairs Independence" written by Alan Dershowitz. It's a good read and provides great insight into where our constitutional rights actually come from. Are they inalienable? Well, read it and make your own judgement.
 
#13 ·
I'll post this just to stir things up a little more.

----------------------------------

Why The Gun is Civilized

By Major L. Caudill
USMC, Retired

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100 pound woman on equal footing with a 220 pound mugger, a 75 year old retiree on equal footing with a 19 year old gang banger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a car load of drunken guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a (armed) mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed, either by choice or legislative fiat—it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks or stones don’t constitute lethal force watch too much TV. There people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn’t work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I’m looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don’t carry because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation….. And that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it." Thomas Jefferson
 
#14 ·
a little story

My grandfather (may he rest in peace) was a gun owner - he owned a shotgun. He was very proud of the fact that he was a RESPONSIBLE gun owner - in that he kept the gun unloaded and the ammo stored separately. I'll never foget the thanksgiving day when we were talking about guns, and my grandfather stated, "if any burgler breaks into my house, all I have to do is get my gun." My grandmother said, "really? GO!" Twenty minutes later, he's still searching for the gun & ammo...

An arguement could be made for a lack of my grandfather's sanity - and I'd agree with you! (he was a nutcase!) However, consider this - to be responsible gun owners, we keep our guns unloaded and the ammo stored separately, and hopefully we all have trigger locks. When you hear suspicous sound in the middle of the night, with your heart pounding and palms sweating, can you get to your gun, load it, unlock the trigger, make it downstairs to locate the intruder before he finds you, and actually shoot to kill accurately? If you've ever been in the military or law enforcement, I have no doubt you can. The rest of us? Well... GO!:icon_smile_big:
 
#17 ·
I'm a fan of all of the amendments. I don't view the second amendment as specific enough but given the recent supreme court decision we now have a more specific construct to work within.

I own a gun but I also have a young child and I have decided that the prudent thing to do is to not have any ammo in the house. At the appropriate time we will discuss gun safety and at some point I will take him to a shooting range if he is interested. I believe that owning a gun is a privileged and with that comes certain responsibilities.

I've always made the joke (only partially tongue in cheek) that technically the constitution does not prohibit or define what constitutes "arms" so in my mind people should be able to own cannons, missiles, and even nuclear bombs. Of course these would have to be for the expressed intent of furnishing a state militia should such a situation arise. :icon_smile_big: I believe that the framers would have been more specific if they had any idea of the types of "arms" that the human race would go on to create.

In terms of gun control I believe that a person should show competency in order to receive a gun license. If they are a felon or mentally unstable then they should not be able to own or possess weapons. I also believe that we should have a multi-tiered approach to gun licenses. Something like this:

Class A License: Pass a background check. Allowed to own a combination of weapons including handguns, shot guns, and rifles but not to exceed five weapons.

Class B License: Pass a more stringent background check. Show competency with weapons by attending and passing a gun safety program of 20 hours or more. Basically a Class A license with the ability to own more weapons. Let's say 25.

Class C License: Background Check. Psychological testing. 100 hours of gun safety classes and instruction. Ability to own up to 100 weapons.

Class D License: Background Check. Psychological testing. 200 hours of gun safety classes and instruction. Ability to own guns, shot guns, rifles, and fully automatic rifles.

Personally I am not a fan of concealed carry and a number of my friends who work in law enforcement have told me that they are not in favor of it either as it makes their jobs harder. I also think it disrupts the line of whatever you are wearing :icon_smile_big:
 
#18 ·
The 2nd amendment is the security policy for the rest of the rights, both state and individual, that are protected by the US constitution.

500 years from now we'll be arguing about light sabers and ray guns vice flamethrowers and bazookas, but the intent will remain. It is the basic right of an individual to protect himself and secure his rights from whatever government may be in place, by force if necessary.
 
#19 ·
The US murder rate is a big red herring to the gun issue. The homicide rate for white, non-Hispanic Americans is comparable with Europe's, but for black Americans it's almost an order of magnitude higher. That skews the statistics. Yet, whites are more than twice, even three times more likely than blacks to own guns.

Also, since the 1990s the number of guns in this country has increased dramatically, yet the homicide rate for all Americans has fallen dramatically as well. So more guns = less murders?



(note that "white" includes Hispanic for the purposes of this graph)
 
#21 ·
The Constitution doesn't say anything about "firearms". It talks about the right to keep and bear arms. I have never seen a principled argument that the Constitution provides an individual right to own rifles, shotguns, or pistols, that doesn't apply equally well to machine guns, bazookas, tanks, or nuclear weapons. Furthermore, "shall not be infringed" does not, by its terms leave some kind of regulation open to state governments that is denied to the federal government.
Fine, you're right.

The 2nd amendment protects your right to own a nuclear warhead. Congress better get on passing an amendment banning it.
 
#22 ·
My friend,

Thank you for that letter from the Major. And to my marine friends, Semper Fi.
Nice, very nice
Cheers. Thanks for your service.

And there are more articles where that came from, including one I'm currently working on.
 
#23 ·
Most men who carry concealed firearms and are not sworn public safety officers are compensating for a small penis. That is my opinion.

Buzz
Either my meter is broken or you have no experience with firearms. Or dangerous situations. :rolleyes:

The article below helped me form the foundations of not only my view on firearms but also my views on social responsibility and liberty.
Enjoy.

---------------------------------------

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - Dave Grossman
By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of "On Killing."

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always,even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling."

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself...

"Baa."

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

https://mwkworks.com/onsheepwolvesandsheepdogs.html



Also, read Grossman's "On Killing" and "On Combat"
 
#25 ·
Either my meter is broken or you have no experience with firearms. Or dangerous situations. :rolleyes:
If those are the choices, then your meter is broken.

As to the tedious story, below; wake me when the Cliff Notes version is available.

Buzz

article below helped me form the foundations of not only my view on firearms but also my views on social responsibility and liberty.
Enjoy.

---------------------------------------

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - Dave Grossman
By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of "On Killing."

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always,even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling."

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself...

"Baa."

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

https://mwkworks.com/onsheepwolvesandsheepdogs.html



Also, read Grossman's "On Killing" and "On Combat"
 
#26 ·
The US murder rate is a big red herring to the gun issue. The homicide rate for white, non-Hispanic Americans is comparable with Europe's, but for black Americans it's almost an order of magnitude higher. That skews the statistics. Yet, whites are more than twice, even three times more likely than blacks to own guns.

Also, since the 1990s the number of guns in this country has increased dramatically, yet the homicide rate for all Americans has fallen dramatically as well. So more guns = less murders?

(note that "white" includes Hispanic for the purposes of this graph)
I also find this interesting. You see substantially fewer murders in England due to guns. What you see instead is a lot of stabbings. I believe to a large degree that if you banned guns and knives in England that you would see an increase in the amount of murders committed by arsenic or the like. If you could somehow outlaw all of that stuff you would probably see people running over people with cars. Essentially the worst of human nature occasionally rears its ugly head and people commit murder. They'll use a club, a gun, a knife, or whatever is going to get the job done.
 
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