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interesting gun essay...........

Why The Gun In Civilization?

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force.

If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either
convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of
force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories,
without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through
persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and
the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as
paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use
reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or
employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal
footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with
a 19-year old gang banger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a
carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in
physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a
defender..

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force
equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all
guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a
[armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's
potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative
fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.

People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the
young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a
civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful
living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that
otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in
several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the
physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.
People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal
force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with
a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works
solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both
are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian
as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as
a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but
because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot
be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because
it enables me to be unafraid It doesn't limit the actions of those who
would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would
do so by force.

It removes force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a
civilized act.
 
Look. No guns means no light sabres, and do we really want that? I don't want to live in a future with no light sabres.
 
Tell Jesse to put that in his pipe and smoke it.
 
Humans are flawed in this aspect.

:-(

That's why Utopia can never exist!
:-))
 
Eh, when you feel scared its easy to misjudge situations as more severe than they really are. Then you may be more prone to react with lethal force when it may not be necessary. Is it better to have 2 people alive and one beat up a bit than 1 person with a homicide on their hands.


also, 'force monopoly'? it takes 1 well placed bullet to the head to take that guy down. We dont need automatic wepons to take downa guy holding automatic wepons.
 
Darn.. can't we just ban guns and re-elect swords as the great equalizer?

When some maniac starts waving a gun around you can't safely watch the situation unfold. With swords you can just kick back at a safe distance, grab some popcorn, and watch the action!

Plus its much easier to outrun a sword!


VOTE YES FOR KATANAS!







:rookwoot:
 
Or maybe politicians shouldn't be discriminating against guns only. We need more axe banning laws, too. There's enough people that get mutilated that we should ban axes. I mean, in all those situations an axe would be just as good an equalizer as a gun; in fact, in those situations a can of mace would suffice, too. Granted, you may not have enough mace for a group of gang bangers, but I certainly would think twice about the safety of my drunk friends if some geriatric is swinging an axe around like a crazy person.

Gang banging thug: "Hey granny, I'm going to beat you up with my thug gang banging friends here."

Granny: "Let me pull out my axe and if anyone steps one foot closer they are going to lose an arm! Now, maybe we talk this out in a reasonable manner like civilized people."

Gang banging thug: "Well we've all got bats! What now, granny?!"

Granny: "My axe has a longer handle..."

xvart.

OT: it's interesting that the spell check in firefox does not have "axe" in it's dictionary.
 
Someone needs to make a nice painting of a gang with bats about to fight an old woman with an axe!

Now thats art! :banana2:
 
  • #10
Thats right we should ban axes too. They are solely made for killing. Trees. And for chopping up and disposing of their remains in a fire so that we can erase all the evidence of the tree murder.

Why have the tree huggers not taken up the case? They are clearly devices made for killing [trees]!

WE CANT HAVE CHILDREN SAFE IN A HOUSE WITH A KILLING TOOL [for trees]




If you couldnt detect the sarcasam and irony in that post then there is no help for you
 
  • #11
Interesting stuff Rattler, makes me think of how violent crime has spiraled out of control in countries where they've banned guns like England...
People don't take account of how often people are beaten to death. It does happen and you know it's not an easy way to go either.
 
  • #12
Forget about foreign countries try Chicago. Banning weapons there has led to only the criminal element and police having them. And of course the otherwise law abiding citizens that feel the need for home protection despite the ban.
 
  • #13
Violent crime is climbing in the united states too, even with our lax gun laws. terms of robbery trends, robbery had the largest percentage increase, 3.9 percent, in the estimated number of offenses when compared with the 2004 estimate in the united states. This rate of growth increased to 6 precent in 2006. An estimated 16,692 persons were murdered nationwide in 2005, an increase of 3.4 percent from the 2004 figure.

Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported an increase of 1.3 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention in 2006 when compared to figures reported for 2005 (that i showed above). The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/06prelim/ucrtable3.htm

Violent crimes are increasing worldwide.
 
  • #14
That is a very good article and makes a good case for gun ownership.
I posted an article the other day "Bad guys lose again" that reinforces the premise. Two men, during the commission of a felony, tried to force a man to do something against his will. He reacted in kind…he shot them.
In this case, having a firearm, put a 71-year old man on an equal footing with two young criminals.
 
  • #15
In this case, having a firearm, put a 71-year old man on an equal footing with two young criminals.

A 71-year old trained marine who gave one of the guys a head shot.

xvart.
 
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