Movie: Bowling for Columbine

"Do you think giving out guns at a bank is dangerous?" Ha.
Funny. Interesting documentary from Michael Moore.

The general thought process of the movie: "America has many
more deaths from guns than any other nation. So, something is
different in America. It's not the number of guns (because
Canada has just as many guns but less deaths). So it must be
this fear that society and media fill our heads with."

Fine. I'll accept that. The combo of guns and fear has made
us kill each other. But I won't accept the next statement of
the movie: "We
need to get rid of guns."

I don't accept it because the real statement is: "We'll
take away the citizen's right to defend."

Wrong. I won't accept that. If a crazy cracked-out dude
stumbles through my living room door I want the right and
ability to use the technology available to kill him and
protect myself and my family.

Period.

You can argue that it'll never happen. You can argue that I
don't even own a gun. You can argue that I'm putting myself
in even more danger because guns in the household usually kill
people who live there.

Those arguments miss the point.

The point is that I have the right to defend myself.
Back to the joe reger mudball theory. We're all floating
around on a mudball and all rules are created by us so they
need to be evaluated by us... not blindly accepted. On the
mudball one of my most core and
basic
rights is my right to defend myself. If a tiger attacks me I
can defend myself. If another person attacks me I can defend
myself.

It's core.

I care that 11,000 people die from guns in the US each
year. I care that this is something like four or five times
the number in other nations (although much smaller nations).

But I'd have 11,000 more people die next year to
protect myself and my family. Call me selfish. Call me a
pig. But most people are like me when they're honest with
themselves.

Some say that they
would be willing to give up their families to save the
11,000. And maybe some would. They believe that doing so
would be the right thing
because society says so. They believe that on the whole
11,000 people are more important than their family. I
disagree. I don't know those
11,000 people. I know my family and I have no shame
whatsoever in saying that I value them over the 11,000 people
that I have never met. Again, call me selfish but I believe
that this is human nature.

So, many people believe that they make the world a better
place by giving up their right to have a gun and defend
themselves. This is really a shame. I've already argued that
this is a bad idea at the personal level because it fights
against human nature. But there's another
reason that it's a bad idea... it won't work.

These people go after WalMart and other large retailers saying
that they shouldn't sell guns. They believe that
they're "making it harder for people to get guns." I agree.
You're making it harder because the people have to drive to
the gun shop or buy from the dude on the corner. Congrats!
But are you actually saving any lives?

Maybe you are saving a few. So posed again: Are you saving
enough lives
to bastardize and limit the capitalism that our nation was
founded on?

Those things are some serious Xxxt and not worth bastardizing
over a small issue.

The reality is that there is a demand for guns. Demand will
be filled by a supply. Whether it's legal or illegal it will
be filled. Drugs are illegal. Demand is filled. Alcohol was
illegal. Demand was filled.

By giving up our right to defend ourselves or by limiting a
retailers ability to conduct business we're continually
walking one step closer to a world where the government has
all of the power.

This is the exact thing that the founding fathers didn't
want. Sometimes I feel like people don't appreciate this
enough.

Think about it. When you give up your right to defend
yourself you're saying "the government will defend me and in
the process less guns will be available so lives will be
saved."

I've already argued that lives will not be saved. So now
you're left holding the fact that the government will defend
us.

Completely. One hundred percent. You're at their mercy.

They get to decide how safe you'll be. They get to decide how
many cops are on the street. They get to set the policy over
hostage negotiations. They set the bar.

And you may like the level of safety that they've set today.
But that may not be the level of safety that they set
tomorrow. When they do you won't have any choice.

When that crack addict comes through your front door and
says "I'm gonna kill me some people" you don't have any
ability to defend yourself. Or, better put, you are not
allowed to use optimum means of defense.

It's in that very moment that you'll realize the folly of your
decision. It's in that very moment that you'll want a gun.
It's in that very moment that you'll realize you're helpless.

"But Joe, you don't even own a gun."

Yep. This is true.

"So, per your argument, when the crack addict comes through
your door you're gonna die saying 'Damn, I can't defend
myself.' How
is that better?"

Oh... it's a lot better. I had the choice to get a gun a
month earlier. I
would conclude that I had the right but failed to defend
myself. I'm in control of that reality. To me that's a much
better thing to say before dying than the helpless "jeez, I
wish I was
allowed to have a gun so that I could defend myself." It's
the difference between being allowed to defend myself and not
being allowed to defend myself. Not able. Allowed.

What's the solution?

Live with it. The fact that we have a media that pumps fear
into us is fine. It's their right to do so. And it's our
right to not watch. But we do watch. So we're culprits.
And we shouldn't feel incredibly bad about that. It's just TV
and I have never had any problem separating TV from reality.

And we need the right to defend ourselves. We can't give
that up. It's core to being alive.

So if the tradeoff for these two elements of being American is
that 11,000 people will die then I say, so be it.

Don't get me wrong. At the personal level I hate that people
die. I've had many tearful moments during tv documentaries.
But at the societal level I have to conclude that 11,000
isn't that many as compared to the importance of our rights.
And 11,000 isn't that many compared to the deaths caused by
smoking or heart disease or obesity or driving accidents.

So we live with it.

Being American means that we're allowed to shoot for the
stars. It means that we're empowered to follow our dreams.

We shouldn't need to live in a socialist regime to realize
(remember)
that
those things are incredibly important. But it seems that
people who focus on the pain of individual situations want the
entire society to live under a state socialism in the hopes of
saving some lives. But their plans won't work. So we'll just
be left with socialism.

In capitalism we have a much better arbiter of our society.
The almighty dollar. Every time we buy something we vote.
Don't like what WalMart's doing? Don't buy from them. Don't
like
the violence on TV? Don't watch local news (I don't for this
very reason).

People in America have a hell of a lot more power than they
give themselves credit for. But they don't exercise it. Some
people want to give that power away to the government.

Don't.

Keep the personal enablement that you have now. Keep the
ability to choose. Keep the freedom to defend. These are
important rights.

Then use that freedom to make the world better. Educate kids
about guns. Invest in gun safety technology. Don't watch the
local news. Choose to make the world better. Don't choose to
outsource making the world better. Understand your own
empowerment.

On a macro level I think that the fascination with violence in
TV, video games and music is fine. We went through a tree-
hugging peace-talking period in the sixties. This is the flip
side. Nothing wrong or right with either view.

Just the natural undulation of a society.

Anyhow, I'm sure my comments will piss somebody off. Sorry
about that. Rest assured that I'm not even remotely qualified
for a discussion on gun control.