Strange, I just compiled a mental list of people I know whom
I would classify as a bit nutty about guns. Only two served in the military,
out of a good many.
Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t include honest and sincere
hunters. I didn’t even include people who keep a firearm, or maybe more, in
their home for safety. I certainly didn’t include the ones who collect,
restore, or view firearms as a hobby. I may not share their interests, but “to
each his own,” as the farmer said, patting the head of his favorite sheep.
I only included those whom I consider, and this is just my personal
opinion, irrational on the topic. Those who would put semi-automatic military
rifles in the hands of the mentally deranged and tell them to walk our streets.
I included those who would have the government arrest anyone
who spoke out against the unlimited worship of guns in our society, claiming protection
of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
I included those who would force our government to establish
a national religion that, among other things, would sanctify that same Second
Amendment or deprive those who didn’t agree of the ability to vote.
I included anyone who would strap an assault rifle across
his or her back and wander into Walmart.
I included anyone who would refuse even to sit and have a
discussion as to how we might establish a more reasonable national attitude
about the bearing of personal firearms in such a complicated social environment.
And so it went. Out of the many, came two I can think of
that actually served in the military. I can’t understand why there weren’t more.
People who worship music join bands. People who claim to love their god join churches.
People who worship food join Weightwatchers, People who worship hatred join the
KKK.
Why do so few people I know who live and breathe a love of
deadly weapons not join the military?
I’m not actually a psychologist, but I dated a woman in
college who became one. Maybe the same lack of discipline in their thinking
about guns, guns, more guns, bigger guns, faster guns, and more deadly guns
also obviates a lack of discipline that makes military service undesirable to
them. Based on my experience with it, the military wants women and men capable and
willing to engage in violence when necessary, but never for fun, entertainment,
or sexual compensation, only as a highly disciplined team action of last
resort.
Or maybe it’s because the military giveth, but the military
taketh away. They gave me an M-14 rifle and said, “use it to kill if we say so.”
Then they took it away. They gave me an M-16 rifle but they took it away. They
gave me a 45-calibler semi-automatic pistol, but took it away. They gave me (because
I was six-feet tall and looked like I could carry it) an M-60 machine gun, but
took it away. They even loaned me an M-79 grenade launcher for a day but took
it away after I almost used it on a band of monkeys.
Their reasoning for the shifting attitudes by the military?
The weapons were for war and not suitable for carrying around in civilized
society. At least that’s the way they saw it, and regulated it. People who come
to worship something to absurdity don’t want its use regulated in any manner.
We aren’t going to repeal that Second Amendment to the United
States of America. The First and Thirteenth are in great danger and will likely
disappear in my lifetime, but not the Second. I think the worship of the Second
by some is due to two things. The first is a mutant gene in our DNA that gained
efficacy during the days in which we engaged in slavery. The second reason the
Second stands is that there has always been a lot of money in it.
Note to Remington: If you can’t survive, financially, in our
blood-drenched world, don’t go into the casino business in New Jersey.
So we beat on, Those on each side of the argument becoming
more entrenched and intractable each day. Those in the middle are afraid to
send their kids to school, go to church, attend a concert, or buy a little pot
without fear of having their bullet-riddled bodies, or those of their children,
on the six-o’clock news.
We do need to talk, without the NRA, its legislators, those
who really would confiscate all firearms, those who want to repeal the Second
Amendment, those who view all firearms owners as fiends, gang members, or those
with AR-15s strapped on, included in the talks.
Oh, it’s okay if we bring the kids. After all, they seem to
be the only ones making sense these days.
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| Will we ever? |
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