My Opinion On Why Some People Like Guns

Let me reiterate that this is my opinion about this phenomenon, an idea based on my observations of philosophies held by players in the criminal underworld about violence and the need for it. I can neither claim to have a complete explanation of why some people like guns, nor to have verified my beliefs about it.

Through my exposure to the world of crime while writing The 8-13 Project, Book 1, and my subsequent associations with that world for the purpose of writing Book 2; I have met many people that are considered dangerous. These characters, all of them important to their stories, accept the violence they have committed and likely will commit again during the pursuit of their work. However, there is a less evident aspect of this reality. Something I came to understand in conversations with the actors I have come to count as my friends and acquaintances - the vast majority of them repudiate violence as something they wish was not a part of their lives.

Violence is an undeniable part of criminal behaviour, and much of it includes the use of firearms. I know many people who carry concealed weapons for their protection and the "safety" of the people around them, but desperately want not to have them. The implications or the expectation of bringing a gun to work, if you will, is that you may have to use it; expectations that cause fear and anxiety as these weapons can also be used against you. Now, let's make something clear: some people embrace violence, others relish it. Scientific literature is full of studies about people with violent dispositions, and the reasons for them; I would recommend you peruse that work to understand it or to get a sense of many of our enduring societal problems.

Invariably, having a weapon is about having potential power over other people; it is about having control over circumstance that are seemingly out of control. And whilst this may be a virtual truism, it sheds light on a different social issue: the vehement defence of guns in western culture. People who oppose gun control tout their rights to bear arms for self-defence and to stand against oppressive, tyrannical governments. Similarly, conspiracy "theorists" assert the infringement of their liberties when talking about any motion to legislate the use of force by between civilians. The "you can't tell me what to do" mentality, like the possession of guns, is entirely about control. The latter is about power over others who may want to exert their influence over you, and the former is about lacking control over governance and policy-making systems.

I will grant anyone who reads this that those policy-making systems are challenging to understand for most of us - I apologise if I come across as claiming that I get them because I don't. I am often overwhelmed by the scope of information and data involved in even the simplest of modern civil and criminal laws.

Most of the reasons presented for the rights to bear arms in a well-organised society lack substance. Aside from the fundamental right to self-defence my criminal associates claim for themselves, many of these reasons are about reclaiming a control that government and other institutions seem to have taken from us. The need to bear arms today appears to be more about a subconscious fear to lose our ability to choose what we think we need for ourselves and to keep that choice from those same systems I mentioned in one of my previous paragraphs.

As a self-proclaimed anarchist, I respect the need for freedom of choice; I think the problem is in ignoring that the choices we make within a complex unity, like modern society, have a direct impact on that unity and its complexity. Furthermore, the desire to hold on to implements of destruction for the sake of order is counterproductive. We can assume that our domestic weapons are intended to defend us from our governments if they become tyrannical, but that has already happened, just with different oppression tactics and authoritarianism than we expected. The control exerted upon us is psychological - the force used against us is emotional. There is nothing small guns can do when facing the military machines of most of the world's armies. And if the subjugation to which we are subjected is ideological, then our defence against it must follow the same patterns.

I'll repeat this: it is my opinion that some people's need to carry guns is about a feeling of impending powerlessness; it's about fear of systems of control that are difficult to understand. And I can, to an extent, sympathise with that fear, but only limitedly. I also have to agree with my libertarian friends on that bans on weapons in unstable societies, especially ones with high crime rates is irresponsible and assure not more than a fair advantage for violent offenders. Education and ideological strategies are required to solve this problem.

I move for a society in which weapons and policing are unnecessary, where the natural consequences of immoral conduct are a good deterrent for violence against our fellow humans, but who is being naively unrealistic now.