The conservative philosophy of tragedy: guns don't kill people, people kill people

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/21/guns-conservative-philosophy-tragedy


An impromptu memorial to the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting, in Newtown, Connecticut. Photograph: Charles Krupa/AP

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

That line of defense from gun proponents comes up again and again in the wake of mass shootings, like last week's at Sandy Hook elementary school that left 20 children and seven adults dead. It's true, in a sense: when holding objects that are specifically designed to be the most effective killing machines possible, people do, in fact, kill people.

And yes, people have gone on murderous rampages for all of human history, and have used whatever tools were at their disposal – rocks, knives, swords, their own hands – to inflict violence. The problem comes in when the tools at their disposal are really good at killing others without much work on the part of the killer, which is why lots of folks would like to see the United States institute some reasonable laws regulating gun ownership.

Time and again, though, the pro-gun right's answer is the same: people will find a way to kill, and violence is inevitable, so taking away guns won't work. Their solution seems to be a society where every citizen has a gun in one hand and crossed fingers on the other.

That perspective represents not just an intense cultural tie to guns, but a typically conservative view of humanity: people (other than me) are fundamentally bad and our time on Earth is in preparation for the afterlife, so why worry about making it better?

[etherealtruth]

1. people with GUNS kill people

Yes, there are a multitude of implements o death and destruction ... but guns hold the "supreme" position .... and their sole purpose is killing

[Honeycombe8]

2. Well, that IS true. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't remove from society...

the weapons that can do massive damage quickly, when people do decide to kill.

When a person shoots another person, both the gun and the person are necessary components. But that has nothing to do with banning access to weapons, like bombs, to limit the killing done, when someone DOES decide to kill.

We can't make people stop killing. But we can limit the harm done.

[geckosfeet]

3. The people who kill people...

Will We Ever Know What Was Wrong With Adam Lanza
Adam Lanza Tried To Destroy His Hard Drive. Here's How We Can Still Follow His Electronic Trail.
Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza rarely spoke, could reassemble a computer in 'minutes'

This is an interesting piece... a three part essay that has only two parts available right now...?
I Was Adam Lanza

I didn't act the way I did because I was a sociopath. Yes, I have more difficulty feeling empathy than other people. But I can feel anxiety - acutely - and sociopaths can't, because their amygdalae don't function. Moreover, for me, a mass shooting followed by suicide would have been an act of despair, which is something else sociopaths would be unlikely to feel, given that they emotionlessly focus on self-interest.

I was never diagnosed with disorders like Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Asperger's Syndrome. In fact, my therapist - a saint who I will have much more to say about later - has explained that genuine instances of ODD are very rare. As to Aspergers, one of my strongest suits, even at my most troubled, was always a superior ability to communicate, and that is the polar opposite of what you see in children so afflicted.

How I acted had nothing to do with violent video games or movies. If anything, they were cathartic - especially the video games, which were a way to get the poison out of my system by attacking pixels instead of people. Same thing goes for loud, angry music, which offered a release for my anger, or at least a way to engage with it without breaking something or someone.

I was not raised by gun nuts. My father left when I was quite young, leaving me in the care of my mother, who had Michael Bloomberg's sensibilities about guns. I tried to buy a gun when I turned 18. My mother refused to have it in the house, which led to an ugly and frightening fight between us. Her strong will was a more effective form of gun control than any background check would have been.

[HereSince1628]

4. Not precisely right...guns don't kill people--"evil monsters" and "lunatics" kill people

It seems that they've nuanced their position a bit.