Happiness is a Warm Gun www.ebsqart.com/Art/45/26709/HappinessisaWarm).
Shoot Shoot. Bang Bang.
Guns. Of course I love them. A while back my daughter Halley and I went and saw Brownsville's gunman Chuck Fredieu. He took us through his course and reminded me how to shoot without knocking off the top of my thumb. It was a father-daughter kind of thing. I helped Halley buy a shiny new pistol just in time for the new laws allowing us to carry a pistol in the car. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling doesn't it?
Now, yes I love guns, but I am not a good shot and rarely have fantasies of murder or self protection or suicide or even shooting critters or winning a target shooting competition (this one, yes, sometimes). I think I love guns like I love cameras and bicycles, even though I am not much of a photographer and I am not likely to actually ride a bicycle. They are pretty and the heft feels good.
It's not a man thing either. Halley loves her guns as much as I do. I have caught her pointing and clicking and reading Pistol Shooting Basics when she thought no one was watching. I love that girl.
Now the shrinks, over the years, have discussed "cognitive dissonance" with me and I think some of it creeps in here. The Ahimsa Shooters Club. Pistol Packin' Pacifists. Gun lovers against the war.
On the one hand those fond childhood memories of my grandfather leading a squirrel, my grandmother with the brass knucks and the blackjack in her purse, my dad blowing out a car window with a shotgun blast. On the other hand, all of that Gandhi, Tolstoy, Zinn and Chomsky.
I like the story about the single pistol in the Warsaw Ghetto keeping out the Nazis. I like all of those news reports about the little old lady who blows away the robber.
But.... I do believe the advocates of nonviolence win the argument. In particular, may I recommend:
Bailie, Gil (1995). Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads. Introduction by René Girard. New York: Crossroad. ISBN 0824516451
and three volumes by Walter Wink, The Powers Trilogy:
* Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8006-1786-X
* Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces That Determine Human Existence, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986. ISBN 0-8006-1902-1
* Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8006-2646-X
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6 comments:
I too am a fan of the Second Amendment. There are ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, and that if we ignore one we give our enemies to power to ignore the others. Plus, it is fun to shoot a gun. Give me a call sometime and we can go kill a bunch of cans with my AK-47.
Judicial activism is so prevelent that I am hard pressed to believe law even matters anymore. The Supreme Court is faced with its own judicial activism in the gun case pending before the court. I believe it was argued this week.
Historically, the right wing supporters of guns (notice how I qualified that) are the type people who say "if it aint in the plain language of the Bill of Rights, you have no right."
They are wrong - but then of course they are all morons. The constitution is a limited grant of power to a government instituted among men for the express purpose of bringing about "Ordered Liberty." Means we make being free orderly.
So now these right wingers are faced with the fact that the 2nd Amendment says militia - not person. What a tangle web weave when we endeavor to control the people's winkies.
So now the question becomes, will for the second time, and the first in over 40 years, will the Supremes look to the 9th Amendment and say - hey - who cares about the 2nd Amendment - it is just a reminder of the inherent right to have a weapon.
I doubt they will recognize the 9th Amendment - what fun would life be for the right wingers on the supremes if they are denied the authority to play pocket pool with our privates.
They will probably say militia's were citizen organized defense organizations and therefore the people.
It is so sad that they just cannot come to accept that the 9th Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights and recognize that government's power comes from the people and not the Supreme Nazi's who control our courts.
But then of course they are self-proclaimed conservatives - so why would they want to curtail their own power?
Bobby WC
I suppose each era has it's own identity with justice. Jean Valjean, Charles Foster Cane, Tom Joad, and as I see marketed all over Brownsville, Tony Montana. Man have we evolved.
The right and left have no sides with the 2nd Amendment until it shows (hurts)in the polls.
Good Blog Mr. Ed Stapleton!
ML
Now Javert has ident systems and NCIC tracking. All of the Jean Valjean's out there have been captured and are running prison gangs. Little Cosette is in foster care or TYC.
LOL!
So true, so true...what can we do.
ML
...and as I see marketed all over Brownsville, Tony Montana. Man have we evolved.
I just got back from the Island. I saw a car entirely decorated as a tribute to Tony Montana. It was candy-apple red with glittery white trim. Montana's face was painted in grey all along one side. Its driver -- with a white muscle t-shirt and peculiar handle-bar eyebrows -- could barely see over the furry steering wheel.
Classic.
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