America's Peculiar Love Affair

Americans aren't the only people in the world who love guns but maybe we are the only people who love them with such reckless abandon. Right from the beginning firearms were seen as a necessary tool for frontier living. The farmer lived by himself, he needed a gun to hunt and protect his family and property.

The Constitution of the United States has an oddly schizophrenic foundation. On one hand is the radical idea that all men are created equal and on the other the very conservative notion that a man's property should be protected as fiercely as his rights. It's the reason why slavery was enshrined and protected by the Constitution until the 13th Amendment. It was a compromise that tried to accommodation two conflicting ideas.

So to protect slavery, the right to own other human beings, eleven states tried to secede from the rest of the country. The Slave Holding States saw the writing on the wall and knew that slavery was destine to eventually be abolished  To end slavery once and for all, the Unites States had to fight its most costly war, as a percentage of the population no other bloodletting conflict comes close. The Civil War was when that schizophrenic crack in the foundation came to the surface -it was freedom verses personal property rights.

In some ways the National Rifle Association's stance on future gun control laws have an unnerving parallel to arguments of Slaver Owners in the 1850's. The morality of owning either a slave or a gun is not the issue -because the right is protected in the Constitution there should be no further regulation or interference from the Government. With all this talk about gun rights. I'm yet to hear anything about gun responsibility.    

No matter how you interpret the 2nd Amendment, America has developed a gun culture that glorifies violence in the name of a righteous cause and suggest that all conflicts have to be settled with at least the threat of violence behind it. Rumor has it that the NRA has bought up the rights to Mayberry RFD / The Andy Griffin Show, just to keep the program out of syndication and off the air. Just in case you're too young to know about the TV show. it's a light comedy about a North Carolinian Sheriff (Andy Taylor played by Andy Griffin). Sheriff Taylor resolves a variety of small town conflicts  and never carries a gun, though his over-eager and slightly inept Deputy does. Once again i's only a rumor.



In my past posts I have talked about the "circle of Bubbahs" (the self proclaimed suburban rednecks) that are my associates and neighbors. Among them there has been a sudden up tick in the purchases of guns. One just bought a 45 cal pistol -why? To protect his family, though he lives in a town where there hasn't been a murder in 30 years or a violent felony in 20 years and not one single home invasion. What bothers me is all of the homes on his block are no more than 20 feet apart.

Another one in that circle has just applied for his pistol permit. He went through an ugly divorce and lost a high paying job two years ago. There are other family problems and his girlfriend left him a couple of months ago. I'm not saying he should be denied a permit but it always worries me when somebody is down and vulnerable and they feel the need to have a weapon. There are some people who get an unhealthy emotional boost from owning lethal force.

Gun control began to be a nation issue with the Thompson Sub Machine Gun. It was developed during World War 1. Originally it called the trench sweeper and tactically it was the forerunner of the assault rifle. Peace came before the Thompson could be shipped to France in any large numbers and after the armistice the armies of the world weren't interested. So what's an arms company going to do? They sold the "Tommy Gun" on the civilian market. Some people were convinced that it was the ultimate defense for home protection but it was the bootleggers and gangster of the roaring 20's that saw the real potential of the Tommy Gun and soon it was known as the "Chicago Violin".



So every 20-30 years the argument over guns flares up. Half the people feel threaten by gun violence and the other half threatened by gun regulations. Like most emotional arguments logic gets tossed aside and maybe there isn't even a good logic solution when both sides are far apart and entrenched behind a rampart of slogans and one line answers. So in the end we have people who say you can take their guns from their cold dead hands as America leads the world in gun violence.


Two songs for your entertainment.

 Let me know which one you like better.