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	<title>
	Comments on: On Guns, Mental Hygiene, and Resilience	</title>
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	<description>Human Animals at the Crossroads of Science, Religion, Media and Culture</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:08:06 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>
		By: Fr. Fitz		</title>
		<link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2012/12/17/on-guns-mental-hygiene-and-resilience/comment-page-1/#comment-121695</link>

		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Fr. Fitz]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:08:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=24356#comment-121695</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[“The Gun Is Civilization”
by Marko Kloos
 
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 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.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>“The Gun Is Civilization”<br />
by Marko Kloos</p>
<p>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.<br />
Reason or Force, that’s it.<br />
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion.<br />
Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal<br />
firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.<br />
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.<br />
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 guy on equal footing with a carload of drunken guys with baseball bats.<br />
The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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&#8230; and that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act.</p>
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		<title>
		By: conservativegrandma		</title>
		<link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2012/12/17/on-guns-mental-hygiene-and-resilience/comment-page-1/#comment-121529</link>

		<dc:creator><![CDATA[conservativegrandma]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:40:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=24356#comment-121529</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The one statement that says it all is, &quot;And we fail to see gradual change, even when its consequences are horrendous.&quot;  This is why I&#039;m against any executive orders that change the Constitution.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The one statement that says it all is, &#8220;And we fail to see gradual change, even when its consequences are horrendous.&#8221;  This is why I&#8217;m against any executive orders that change the Constitution.</p>
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		<title>
		By: grumpypilgrim		</title>
		<link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2012/12/17/on-guns-mental-hygiene-and-resilience/comment-page-1/#comment-121471</link>

		<dc:creator><![CDATA[grumpypilgrim]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2013 04:17:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=24356#comment-121471</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Larry, although your comments take my analysis farther than I would agree with (for instance, I do not equate &quot;more&quot; government (whatever that means) with &quot;less&quot; liberty (ditto)), I hope readers will investigate the links you provide as they offer some worthwhile perspectives on this topic.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Larry, although your comments take my analysis farther than I would agree with (for instance, I do not equate &#8220;more&#8221; government (whatever that means) with &#8220;less&#8221; liberty (ditto)), I hope readers will investigate the links you provide as they offer some worthwhile perspectives on this topic.</p>
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		<title>
		By: Larry J. Carter		</title>
		<link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2012/12/17/on-guns-mental-hygiene-and-resilience/comment-page-1/#comment-121427</link>

		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Larry J. Carter]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:16:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=24356#comment-121427</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Grumpy: This is an amazing, and useful, statement that you have made. I hope you will allow me to apply it to where it will have maximum impact.

When we understand what people [in government] want to accomplish from their bad [unlawful/unconstitutional/lieing] behavior, and we take steps to create a disconnect [we refuse to be stampeded] between that cause and effect [more government/less liberty], we will go a long way toward stopping that bad behavior.

http://www.sott.net/article/254873-Sandy-Hook-massacre-Official-story-spins-out-of-control]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Grumpy: This is an amazing, and useful, statement that you have made. I hope you will allow me to apply it to where it will have maximum impact.</p>
<p>When we understand what people [in government] want to accomplish from their bad [unlawful/unconstitutional/lieing] behavior, and we take steps to create a disconnect [we refuse to be stampeded] between that cause and effect [more government/less liberty], we will go a long way toward stopping that bad behavior.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sott.net/article/254873-Sandy-Hook-massacre-Official-story-spins-out-of-control" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.sott.net/article/254873-Sandy-Hook-massacre-Official-story-spins-out-of-control</a></p>
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		<title>
		By: Larry J. Carter		</title>
		<link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2012/12/17/on-guns-mental-hygiene-and-resilience/comment-page-1/#comment-121426</link>

		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Larry J. Carter]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:54:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=24356#comment-121426</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[&quot;I want to tighten access to certain weapons and ammunition, but I do not want to ban all guns.&quot;

Efficiency is not cause. Murderers are attracted to gun-free zones.

http://www.ssristories.com/index.php]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;I want to tighten access to certain weapons and ammunition, but I do not want to ban all guns.&#8221;</p>
<p>Efficiency is not cause. Murderers are attracted to gun-free zones.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ssristories.com/index.php" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.ssristories.com/index.php</a></p>
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