Not Wanting Gun Control: Guns don't Kill People...

GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, people kill people. Isn't that the way it goes? Exhaustive research has failed to reveal who deserves credit for originating this bit of wisdom; our best bet is to chalk it up to popular culture, and give credit not only to the National rifle Association, but to the conservative Christian American community as well. You know, the Jesus, guns, and money folks. They like their Bibles and firearms. Cars don't kill people, people kill people. Recreational drugs don't kill people, people kill people. Vertical slopes don't kill mountain climbers, mountain climbers kill mountain climbers. Oppressive heat and humidity don't make people cranky, people make people cranky. Isn't this fun? Who would've ever thought that personal responsibility could be so comprehensive? We all commit suicide! My grandfather, (1888-1956) is reputed to have said: "put a gun in a man's hand, and the first thing he wants to do is use it." Grandfather was a lawyer, so he had some degree of understanding of culpability. but apparently he wasn't much on personal responsibility. I hope he was a defender, not a prosecutor. Don't people tend to drive just a little bit faster when behind the wheel of a shiny new Corvette, and a little bit slower when driving a hearse? Wouldn't a human being be a wee bit more inclined to fire a firearm if he or she happens to be holding or carrying one, and a bit less so inclined if it became necessary to undergo reams of paperwork and background checking to get hands on gun?? When we pretend that we are entirely uninfluenced by the inanimate objects in or environment, are we possibly missing the point, just a wee bit? Yes, it is true that we, by using our intelligence and reason, can be unaffected by that with which we are surrounded. We can will ourselves into a state of absolute independence from anything external to our minds. But the fact is, we don't. We don't, because that aint the way we operate. We are part of our environment, and our environment is part of us. We walk faster on forty second and Broadway than in a sleepy village. we just do. Pictures of juicy cheeseburgers make us hungry. We are influenced by everything we see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. That's why advertising works. That's why our guns are not the innocent bystanders they so piously claim to be. The best argument against gun control is not that guns are harmless, or that anything other than a gun can become a weapon. The best argument is that the cow is out of the barn, guns are already ubiquitous, and can never be rounded up and thrown away. The best argument against gun control is that, being what we are, we simply do not want gun control, because we love guns. At least let's be honest about it.