February 10, 2013:

Reflections On The Current Debate Over Gun Control

“The past is never really the past; it simply appears in new forms.”  I don’t know who said that.  Perhaps I made it up myself.  I know that that thought is too negative for those who believe that individuals and nations can change for the good.  Perhaps, sometimes that is true, but not often.

          As I have listened to the increasingly strident arguments of those who oppose any form of gun control, my mind – being of an historical bent – drifted back to what happened in our country in the years before the Civil War.  The divisive issue then was slavery.  Proponents of slavery argued that slavery was constitutional and there was no legitimate reason why it should not be allowed in all the emerging western states.

          Those who encouraged slaves to flee their masters to freedom in the North were aiding and abiding theft.  Those owning slaves insisted that they were critical for the South to survive.  Reports of slaves being beaten or killed – not to mention the sexual abuse of female slaves and the forcible breaking up of slave families – were of no great significance.  Owners should be able to treat their slave property in any way they wished.

          As the argument over slavery raged, the rhetoric and behavior of those who supported slavery became more extreme.  Slave states threatened to secede from the Union of their rights to slavery were threatened in any way.  The election of Abraham Lincoln (A moderate on slavery!) set off the murderous Civil War to preserve the Union and ultimately to end slavery.

          The past becomes present again.  Gun owners and their advocates claim their constitutional right to “keep and bear arms.”  Incidents of terrible gun violence around the country are dismissed as regrettable but not preventable.  Paranoid myths about the government (somehow) taking away all guns are presented as realistic possibilities.  Dark threats about secession are heard again.  Moderate leaders are shouted or voted down.

          Where will all this lead?  I hope to God we don’t have another Civil War.

Love,
Dave