Guns, Ted Nugent, and the Endless Debate
Before I tell you that I am an expert on guns and before you
begin to doubt my claim, ask yourself a question: Have you ever shot someone?
You probably haven’t, so let me ask the question in a different way: Have you
ever wanted to shoot someone? You probably have, I would guess, although I hope
it was merely a metaphorical fantasy fueled by anger in a given moment. At
least, I hope it was.
As a veteran, I see the issue of gun control in a slightly
different way than most people. I can see it from the perspective of a
civilian, as I have been a civilian for a long time. I can also see it through
the eyes of constitutional defenders as I have been a defender of the same. All
of us see the tragedies on television or the internet, we listen to the number
of people killed, try and discern the truth underneath the media’s coverage of
events like Columbine High School, et al. We wonder at the madness of the perpetrators
and feel secure that they are somehow abnormalities and we will hopefully never
encounter these types of people ourselves. We feel empathy for the victim’s
families, but can’t muster sympathy for the victims themselves that is based on
fact and the reality of being shot. We have no basis of experience to make that
connection. Let me help you make that connection: they are dead and they died
in a very violent way as a bullet crashed into their bodies and tore their
flesh beyond repair.
Most people – and I thank God this is also true – have never
actually fired a handgun in their lives. Most people wouldn’t know the
difference between a Baretta and a HK MP5, much less understand the fact that
they shoot the exact same ammunition and are designed for exactly the same
purpose. Do you know the difference between an M-16 and an M-4? Most people
have never seen someone shoot a weapon out of anger, either. I send thank you’s
for this too.
During the next year and some months, the issue of gun
control will undoubtedly be present in the panorama of issues bantered about by
the candidates in an effort to congeal some sort of following in the voting
base of this country. I’ve seen messages and memes on Facebook about how guns
don’t kill people and I’ve seen bold, declarative statements that having a gun
is protected by the constitution. In a very muddled way, I believe nearly
everyone is missing the point. The defense of gun ownership is not about
preserving the constitution, or about freedom, or anything else we bestow the quality
of nobility upon. Defending the right to own a handgun is about defending people’s
right to kill another human being. Handguns are not for hunting. Automatic
rifles are not for home defense in the same way that guns don’t kill people. Like
it or not, weapons do not make you feel safer. They only make you more afraid
that you will have to use one. Call it what it is. There is no other reason to
have a handgun than to have the opportunity to kill another person.
Handguns are not for protection, either. Defenders of gun
ownership, at least some of them, go so far as to say that their right to own a
gun is protection against an oppressive government. Believe me when I say this:
an oppressive government would like nothing better than for you or I to try to
defend ourselves against them in a gun fight. Special Agents of the FBI live
for this scenario. Believe me once more when I say that they have more weapons
and people trained to use them than you do, and they are trained more
thoroughly than you. Toe to toe, you will die and it will not be heroically. The
real protection you enjoy today against an oppressive government is the Law.
You don’t need a gun.
I began this piece by stating that I was an expert and that you
were probably going to doubt my claim. I probably know more about guns,
pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, and crew-served weapons,
than you do. This is not a brash statement. This is a fact. And I know more
about what they can do than you do. I was trained by the best. Who trained you,
your father? I was trained by the US Army Special Forces. I know exactly what
handguns, assault rifles, and automatic weapons are made for, designed for, and
utilized for in this world. They are not for protection. They are not for
defense. Handguns, et al. are for killing other human beings. Those individuals
in the world that say “I can have their gun when I pry it from their cold, dead
fingers” want the opportunity to kill another human being and they will fight
to protect their so-called right to do so. They defend their wish by using the law
because they believe these laws give them the right to find themselves in a
situation where they can kill another human being legally. There is no other
explanation for it whether you want to recognize the darkness that is in all of
us, or not.
The resolution of this issue is not going to be decided in
the Supreme Court, or in Congress. It will be decided in the hearts and minds
of all of us. The right to bear arms should exist but only because dismantling
this fundamental tenant of the constitution would invite further deterioration
of the body of laws that protect all of us. We decide for ourselves whether or
not to own a firearm, be it a hunting rifle or a pistol, or worse. Each of us
knows what is in our hearts and so each of us must assume responsibility for
our own fears and how we choose to face them. Few of us have the courage to
openly admit what those fears are, however. If you own a gun, ask yourself this
question and be honest this one time. Why do you want a loaded gun in your
hand? You want the moral opportunity – the ‘accidental’ opportunity – to shoot
dead another human being, calling it self-defense, or constitutional right, or
something else equally misleading. Why else would you pay for one, keep it in
your home, and be preoccupied with the fear that firearms have always brought
to their owners?
And as an answer to the question, no. I do not own a gun or
any other type of firearm, much less anything that could be construed as a
weapon. I have never found myself in a situation where I needed one, once I
left the Armed Services. Not once in thirty-two years.
G. M. Potter can be found on –
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gmpotterhome
He is the author of the recently published short story collection,
Clowns and Buffoons: Short Stories
Available on
Amazon.com
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