Guns are not toys

 

First, a racist terrorist attack against Black people at a Buffalo supermarket. Not too long after, another attack targeting Taiwanese immigrants attending church in Orange County California.

Now a mass murder at a goddamned elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. At the time of writing, 21 people have been butchered, including at least 19 children.

Some of the children have been so badly torn to pieces by these weapons of war that local authorities have had to rely on DNA samples to determine who the casualties are.

There is a lot to go over these events, such as the racial disparities in how these terrorists are treated, the White supremacist ideology that often fuels these attacks (especially replacement “theory”), how these attacks are quite predictable if you know what to look for, and the catastrophic way that the Uvalde Police Department botched the situation.

But right now I want to focus on one critical aspect of this.

America’s relationship with guns, or to be more accurate, White America’s relationship with guns.

Guns Are Tools to Kill People

I have fired guns before on a range. Of the limited number of guns I have fired, the 1911 is my favorite because of the low kickback and immense power of each shot.

Just feeling the weight of a loaded gun is enough to make me hyper aware of what I am doing, especially because I know this weapon has the power to kill a human being in less than a second.

A large subculture of largely White Americans approach guns, at best, like status symbols to flash around. More tragically, they are treated like sports cars, something to show off with no regard for the consequences. A symbol for fake toughness or to show off how much of a man you are.

This is an incredibly unhealthy way to relate to tools, especially tools designed to kill people. America’s gun culture is profoundly disturbed. I can’t think of any culture that treats guns this way outside of the United States. Even in countries at war or basically always at war, guns are treated like tools, not toys. See Israel for an example.

Ironically, traditional ideals for what it means to be a man would have been repulsed by today’s American gun culture, especially in how Donald Trump embodies them. Focus, stoicism, and discipline are all missing from the NRA. Bravado, impulsiveness, and recklessness are in.

This is very different from how the United States military treats weapons. There, these weapons of war are treated with the respect and care they are owed.

It must be emphasized that the sole purpose of an assault rifle, a light machine gun, and other automatic weapons is to kill as many people as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Not hunting, pest control, or recreational shooting. Just killing humans in massive numbers at record speed.

The only time you would ever need such weapons is if you are in an active war zone or you have evidence beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are about to be (fantasies about being in a war zone do not count).

See Ukraine and Syria for examples.

But it must be understood that an assault rifle is a tool for mass killing that requires serious training and focus, not a toy or status symbol to be shown off.

If you want the privilege of owning a gun, then you ought to prove yourself responsible when handling these tools. Train with a gun in responsible usage, maintenance, and storage. If you wish or need to own one, convince me you are not going to act like a child with this tool.

Understand that when you pull out a gun to use it, it is automatically deadly force. Be prepared for those consequences.

We treat cars the same way. If you prove yourself irresponsible when handling a machine that can pass 100 miles per hour, then you are not legally permitted to drive. America regulates driving more strictly than guns. Gun regulation needs to catch up.

Way too many Americans have proven incapable of responsibly handling any type of firearm. As a result, I do support far tighter gun control than we have right now, as well as a far more thorough background check process.

I don’t know anything about the background of the bastard who murdered 19 kids in Ulvade, but I am willing to bet that he has a long and documented history of violence, especially violence against women. But that will be for next time.

Remember, guns are not toys.

 
Update: It appears the shooter has an extensive history of posting rape threats against women online, torturing animals, and most serious of all, an extensive history of violent behavior against his peers.