A well-reasoned point on why average law abiding citizens carry a gun

[Guest theoldguy]

the original post of this thread was originally penned by a gentleman by the name of Marko. I received it in an email

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another:

reason and force. If you want me to do something for you,

you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or

force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every

human interaction falls into one of those two categories,

without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively

interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid

method of social interaction, and the only thing that

removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as

paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You

have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a

way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is

the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on

equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree

on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a

single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunken

guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in

physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential

attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the

source of bad force equations. These are the people who

think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed

from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a

[armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true

if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either

by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when

most of a mugger's potential marks are armed. People who

argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the

young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact

opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one

, can only make a successful living in a society where the

state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations

lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This

argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns

involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior

party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People

who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't

constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take

beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The

fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in

favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If

both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only

weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as

it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't

work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal

and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a

fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at

my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I

don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me

to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who

would interact with me through reason, only the actions of

those who would do so by force. It removes force from the

equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

Edited January 21, 2009 by theoldguy
author found

[Guest daddy rabbitt]

[Bloodbought1]

Great Post. Well spoken.

[Guest Linoge]

For the sake of clarity, the original post of this thread was originally penned by a gentleman by the name of Marko, as seen here: http://munchkinwrangler.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-gun-is-civilization.html

Copy-pasting without attribution is a no-no.

[Guest nraforlife]

Good post

[Guest jackdog]

That may be the most intelligent reasons ever given to carry a gun. Great post.

[war4peace]

[Guest truthsayer]

For the sake of clarity, the original post of this thread was originally penned by a gentleman by the name of Marko, as seen here: http://munchkinwrangler.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-gun-is-civilization.html

Copy-pasting without attribution is a no-no.

Especially from Marko's blog... he penned a post within the last month about people using his work without citing the source.

[Guest theoldguy]

Didn't mean to offend..I just got it in an email with nothing elso..at least I'm glad to know who wrote it..I will to to redo the original post to show author.

thanks Jeff