What are we afraid of? Guns, gun control, & fear

What are your views on guns and gun control?

Before reading my take on guns, gun control, fear, and identity, you can let me know what you think in the survey below (when you finish you will see the results of previous responses).

On Monday, a few months ago, I received phone messages from my son’s high school because someone had left a message in a girls’ bathroom threatening gun violence. The school has not released the exact wording, but my son said it said that s/he would start shooting people at noon.

My son says that it must have been left that same morning, and not over the weekend, because that was one of the most trafficked bathrooms, and it would have been noticed. Hmm. The school was immediately flooded with law enforcement and parents coming to take their children home. A local news channel had live helicopter footage; it was a zoo. If someone had had a gun, they could have opened fire from just about anywhere (included the houses across the parking lot) and taken many lives.  (My son did say that within the school, it was “like a prison camp.”)

The next day, by ten o’clock, we had another call.  This time the message was in the boys’ restroom.  We undoubtedly had a copycat (turned out it was someone with a warped sense of humor, no violence ever intended).  Of course, I would hazard a guess that the first message was also a species of copycat, because we had the Oregon shooting all over the news last week.

Schools have always been subject to this sort of thing, especially around exam time.  Bomb threats are the perennial favorite (we had several while I was teaching at St. Michael’s School, near Madrid, Spain), but they are much easier to deal with: there either is a bomb, or there is not.  Empty the school, search it, let everyone back in when no bomb.

Yes, fear (of “others”) drives some fear of gun control.

Some people seem to be genuinely afraid that they might at some point be in a situation where they’d need a gun.  They seem to believe that there will be a time when their gun is all that stands between them and … death?  The big bad government?  A bad cop? (sadly, if you’re the kind of person who is likely to be in need of defense from a bad cop, you probably do NOT want to have a gun.)  The Russians?  Oh wait, we’re not afraid of them anymore.  Daesh?  Your neighbor? (probably the most justified fear)  Aliens? (not the least justified)

I’m not trying to be funny (at least, not only).  I know that much of the rising xenophobia and racism in the US is due to fear.  It’s hard for me to understand.  I don’t have a lot of imagination for physical fear; my fears wouldn’t be helped by a gun.  Now, I have no objections to guns, per se.  I want to be able to buy one, if I decide at some future moment that I want to do so (I am willing to undergo all sorts of background checks and wait periods, but I believe I should have to right to own a gun).  I can see lots of reasons why I’d want one; to hunt (if I needed to), to put an animal down if necessary, to shoot a dangerous animal or even a squirrel, to shoot targets while galloping on my horse (I do want to do this.)  But for me, fear just isn’t a motivating factor.

I’m afraid of other people dying. not of my own death.  Yeah, I know that some of you will say, I want my gun so I can protect my family.  But it rarely turns out that way.  Mostly, when family dies, they do so in bed, from disease or illness, or out of bed, from disease or illness, or in a car accident.  Once in a while someone gets struck by lightning, or falls off a horse, or is in a freak train or plane crash, or gets killed by some maniac with a gun he shouldn’t have.  I guess I should write s/he, since we have a recent case of a FEMALE killer, but it’s not the norm.

I’m afraid of other people’s ignorance.  

That’s probably what I’m most afraid of.  Other people’s ignorance and fear of Science, that leads them to deny global warming, vaccine effectiveness, the effect of drugs (including alcohol) on the capacity to drive.  Other people’s ignorance and boredom and abject mental poverty that makes them susceptible to the blandishments of extremists.

I’m afraid we won’t make it to the beehive society, that scarcity of resources will come after we’ve killed each other.

I blame a lot on Stephen King; all the conspiracy theorists, much of the the anti-government hysteria can be found in Stephen King’s books.

I’m afraid that all that is beautiful in life will be lost because of people’s ignorance.  I’m afraid that one day no one will recognize beauty at all.  I guess I’m kind of afraid of Wall-e‘s world 😉

And yeah, I’m afraid of guns, but only because other people are so afraid of other people that they can’t think straight about how to ameliorate the effect those other people (the scary ones who shoot innocent children just because, or bomb people because Jesus, or shoot people because Muhammad, or because black, or because of fear.)  I’m deathly afraid of other people’s stupidity.

Some proposals:

(Written a few weeks after first comments… probably in October)

Any sign of mental disorders?  No guns.  Shouldn’t be able to purchase a gun, and should not have access to guns.  This means that no one living in the same house should be allowed to keep a gun there.  It would be unfair to prohibit the entire family from owning guns, but they could keep them legally at a gun range.

Actually, if I were Queen, they would only be allowed access to firearms under strict supervision.  Many mental illnesses are genetic.  However, most mental illnesses do NOT make people more likely to harm others, so this is a difficult issue.  Take autism spectrum conditions; the vast majority of people with ASC are not violent, and to label them as more likely to commit gun violence would be wrong.  However, the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (an ASC no longer in the DSM), and it seems that the killer at Umpqua Community College also had Asperger, or so his mother claimed.

(Two months later, after San Bernardino shooting)

I wrote the following in a response to a friend’s post, then decided I’d rather put it here.

Nothing will stop bad things from happening, we can only try to lessen the quantity and fatality. If we stop just a tiny proportion of gun violence, it’s worth it.

Why NOT make people have a permit (one time purchase, not renew every year), take classes, and pass an exam? It won’t hurt them. The only reason to object is if you are selling firearms and believe this would hurt sales, or you’re trying to hide something (and yeah, it will cost $$. But an entire industry would spring up around training and licensing). Yes, there would probably be fewer people who bought guns, because they wouldn’t want to wait, etc. But those who really wanted to would do it.

If I were queen, I would devise an incentive program. Offer $$ to people who registered current guns, offer to buy them if they wanted to sell, offer ammo cheaper on a giant wholesale network (controlled by my government); amazon would immediately try to undercut my prices, but that’s all right, because all purchases would be tracked, except the illegal ones of course, which would cost a lot. Offer free ammo with purchase of gun safe, more free ammo with guns set to fingerprint locks or whatever single-use security. Free .22 for children who took care of the entire licensing process before they were, say, 12. & etc. Above all, incentivize early compliance with testing and licensing regulations that will eventually become stricter.

(and offer alternative to written test, or are we assuming that people who can’t read shouldn’t own guns? I’m all for keeping people on the no-fly list from buying guns, but not people who can’t read)

Sadly (or fortunately) I am not queen. (About me)