People think that being anti-gun is being, well, anti-gun. Actually it isn't, at least for me. I actually enjoy watching the occasional video of an expert marksman and, once upon a long time ago, was an enthusiastic archer. (Long ago, as in before compound bows became popular.) Once in a while I think about taking it up again, but flying / motorcycles / sailing ... another hobby is the last thing I need at the moment.
In fact my anti-gun thoughts are limited to just a few items. The first is requiring that people who own guns receive some basic training. Let the NRA set up the training and certification process, much like the Experimental Aircraft Association has be asked to set up the training and review process for those who want to do low level acrobatics in airshows. The Federal Aviation Administration has oversight, but the EAA has the experts and the whole thing actually works pretty well. (I worked in the airshow industry and had a low level waiver for acro ... and though not really a fan of the EAA the process was pretty well administered.) Anyone who has been in the military would be assumed to have the training as well.
The other thoughts focus on the actual equipment. Possessing a fully automatic weapon should be a serious felony, conviction should carry a mandatory 5 year prison sentence. Any semi-automatic weapon should be limited to a carrying capacity of 6 shots. (Yes, a completely arbitrary number admittedly based on the old 6-shooter of by-gone days.) So that is it. Require some basic training for gun owners. Let the NRA hold onto the training records, not the government (to keep the "black helicopter" set from wetting their pants). Limit the mass murdering capacity of the weapons allowed out in public. That doesn't seem that is too much to ask from a first world democracy.
My being anti-gun is more about being anti-violence, about opposing the idea that someone has the "right" to threaten other people with death. The celebration of violence, one might even say the worshiping of it in our society, is the true problem. Our love of high capacity killing machines is just one tenet in the religion of force.
Other tenets of that religion taint our democracy in many ways. We have a "winner take all" mentality which allows a political party to proclaim a "mandate" with a 50.6 to 47.8 percent victory. (Not sure how, but the 47.8 % side is claiming a "mandate" as well.) A bare majority will impose its will on a slight minority in all things and in all ways. Which seems a exercise in force to me. (And one of the real potential problems with democracy that vexed the founders of our experiment - and hasn't been resolved yet.)
Without the American love of war, force, and violence it would be impossible to envision our expanding an out-of-control and bloated military budget even more, even at the expense of caring for our parents and children and maintaining our own infrastructure. Yet both political parties are working desperately to protect the military from the cuts that driving "off the cliff" would required. It would be impossible to envision our approving a drone war, blowing up houses and cars from afar without really knowing (or caring) who is inside and what they are doing. Indeed, just the idea of airborne automated killing machines should chill the soul of any thinking, caring human being. The USA has the most nukes, the only aircraft carriers that matter, overwhelming numbers of "Boomers", and control the world trade in weapons. (The next time the Middle East goes to war it is likely both sides will be flying US made F-18s.)
One of our national past times is football; large men literally (as we are discovering) beating each other's brains out. Another is NASCAR; a racing series deliberately manipulated to ensure several massive, high speed wrecks per season. And then there are video games ...
It doesn't seem much of a stretch to see our love of violence as a love of hate. The love of hate is at the very core of our decline as a culture. It has poisoned our politics, gutted our budget, and eroded our morality past the point of no return.
Anti-gun, anti-military adventurism, anti-military spending excess, anti-drone war, anti-war in general, anti-nuke; it is all wrapped up together. Toss in a lack of enthusiasm for the NFL and NASCAR, and the unlimited violence of video games aimed at young people. Wrap it all together and what you get is a position is that is pro-human, pro-freedom, pro-responsibility. It is a position that suspects that the concentration of power in any form always ends up doing evil. Guns, the military, violence, it is all the worship of power, of the concentration of power that can overwhelm the liberties of another.
No person should coerce another in any way, for any reason.
No one should profit off the effort of another.
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