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I continue to want a cannon for the roof
Jan. 17th, 2013 02:35 amToday, the president proposed we restore some gun laws we had in the recent past which were not the end of the world. Predictably, a not insubstantial minority of the country immediately started frothing at the mouth.
It is possible to make a compelling argument against gun control. You can marshal the numbers that show overall gun violence is on the decline and has been for years. You can point out that pro-gun-control groups tend to goose their numbers by talking about gun-related deaths, without mentioning that maybe 80% of those are suicides. You can say that we could get more improved outcomes by spending the federal budget and enforcement attention in other areas, both in terms of reducing violence and increasing general well-being. You can make a case that the comparatively high rate of mass shootings in America are a cultural product -- by which I don't mean the fault of the media; by which I mean they stem from our ideas about the relationship of the individual to society. You can provide examples of other cultures with high rates of gun ownership but different patterns of violence.
These are not the arguments most people are making.
Most of them are hanging their hats on self defense, because it seems like an emotional winner. Don't you want to defend yourself? As a matter of fact, I don't want to defend myself. Imaginary home invasions are not part of my fantasy life. If they were, I'd probably opt for a portcullis, and maybe a shark tank, and definitely a labyrinth that only I knew the way out of. Guns are not a defensive weapon. You can't block or parry with them. You can't push someone back with them, or bar a door with them. Holding a knife makes it more dangerous for you to come near me than to stay away from me. Holding a gun makes it possibly more dangerous for you to keep your distance than to rush me.
When I'm running away, I sure as shit don't want to pause and aim. When it's too late and you've caught me, I sure as shit don't want to have a gun you can grab. Guns are a ranged offensive weapon. That's what they were designed for, and that's what they still are, and that's what they're always going to be.*
Guns are fun! And I've never hurt anybody! is another big one. Here are some other things that are fun: Writing your name in spray paint on a building that's going to get demolished. Playing loud music at two in the morning. Jumping into other people's swimming pools after they've specifically said no. Hacking into computer networks. Eating food in a movie theater that you've brought from home. Taking a shortcut through an office building. Using medication you weren't prescribed. Driving way above the speed limit. Setting off fireworks in your driveway. Photographing people without asking their permission. Walking down the street totally naked. We have rules against all those things. I can get thrown in jail for quite a few of them. I don't see any damn lobbying group defending my right to do any of it.
But I'm supposed to believe guns are different because of the Constitution, the glorious Constitution. Don't talk to me about the Constitution. (Unless it's the USS Constitution. I can hear about that all day.) The framers were cool with slavery, aka cool with kidnapping, murdering, crippling, raping, and/or force-impregnating anybody who was black. The framers were cool with the idea that as a woman, my only voice should be through my husband. The framers were cool with the idea that only rich people should get to have a say, which means they were cool with the idea of the rich getting richer and the poor shutting up about it, except to say thank you.
The framers may have been ahead of their time, but they were a damn sight behind mine. Don't talk to me about the Constitution.
* There's a sub-argument about guns as deterrents, but this argument often comes from rape apologists, who are not the people I go to for advice about deterrence. Most violence against women (it's always a cringing woman we're asked to picture) comes from their intimate partners, and not random home invaders the women can coolly hold in their sights. I have never seen evidence that owning a gun makes a woman less likely to be abused or murdered by her partner or her ex. Sadly. It would be nice.
It is possible to make a compelling argument against gun control. You can marshal the numbers that show overall gun violence is on the decline and has been for years. You can point out that pro-gun-control groups tend to goose their numbers by talking about gun-related deaths, without mentioning that maybe 80% of those are suicides. You can say that we could get more improved outcomes by spending the federal budget and enforcement attention in other areas, both in terms of reducing violence and increasing general well-being. You can make a case that the comparatively high rate of mass shootings in America are a cultural product -- by which I don't mean the fault of the media; by which I mean they stem from our ideas about the relationship of the individual to society. You can provide examples of other cultures with high rates of gun ownership but different patterns of violence.
These are not the arguments most people are making.
Most of them are hanging their hats on self defense, because it seems like an emotional winner. Don't you want to defend yourself? As a matter of fact, I don't want to defend myself. Imaginary home invasions are not part of my fantasy life. If they were, I'd probably opt for a portcullis, and maybe a shark tank, and definitely a labyrinth that only I knew the way out of. Guns are not a defensive weapon. You can't block or parry with them. You can't push someone back with them, or bar a door with them. Holding a knife makes it more dangerous for you to come near me than to stay away from me. Holding a gun makes it possibly more dangerous for you to keep your distance than to rush me.
When I'm running away, I sure as shit don't want to pause and aim. When it's too late and you've caught me, I sure as shit don't want to have a gun you can grab. Guns are a ranged offensive weapon. That's what they were designed for, and that's what they still are, and that's what they're always going to be.*
Guns are fun! And I've never hurt anybody! is another big one. Here are some other things that are fun: Writing your name in spray paint on a building that's going to get demolished. Playing loud music at two in the morning. Jumping into other people's swimming pools after they've specifically said no. Hacking into computer networks. Eating food in a movie theater that you've brought from home. Taking a shortcut through an office building. Using medication you weren't prescribed. Driving way above the speed limit. Setting off fireworks in your driveway. Photographing people without asking their permission. Walking down the street totally naked. We have rules against all those things. I can get thrown in jail for quite a few of them. I don't see any damn lobbying group defending my right to do any of it.
But I'm supposed to believe guns are different because of the Constitution, the glorious Constitution. Don't talk to me about the Constitution. (Unless it's the USS Constitution. I can hear about that all day.) The framers were cool with slavery, aka cool with kidnapping, murdering, crippling, raping, and/or force-impregnating anybody who was black. The framers were cool with the idea that as a woman, my only voice should be through my husband. The framers were cool with the idea that only rich people should get to have a say, which means they were cool with the idea of the rich getting richer and the poor shutting up about it, except to say thank you.
The framers may have been ahead of their time, but they were a damn sight behind mine. Don't talk to me about the Constitution.
* There's a sub-argument about guns as deterrents, but this argument often comes from rape apologists, who are not the people I go to for advice about deterrence. Most violence against women (it's always a cringing woman we're asked to picture) comes from their intimate partners, and not random home invaders the women can coolly hold in their sights. I have never seen evidence that owning a gun makes a woman less likely to be abused or murdered by her partner or her ex. Sadly. It would be nice.
