God Bless the Second Amendment

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