[lit-ideas] Re: Mark Steyn on Gun Control
- From: Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:06:15 -0300
Lawrence Helm wrote:
"The Korean incident I described had to do with my guarding three murderers
awaiting court martial. They were not enemy soldiers."
I wasn't referring to the prisoners, but rather your training as a Marine
and rifle instructer. That is the lens through which you see all conflict.
For example, you continue to equate the situation of the elderly lady with
your situation in Korea as a Marine, with both of you facing the enemy. For
you, the enemy, they being enemy soldiers firing at you in battle or
murderers trying to escape, always have the willingness and intent to kill.
This, however, is certainly not true of the vast majority of criminals.
Burglers and thieves, in particular, want stuff, not confrontation and
violence. This inability of yours to distinguish between the varieties of
crimes is unhelpful.
Lawrence continues:
"Why are they coming after me?"
This is precisely the sort of question one ought to ask. Obviously they
were after farm stuff and had no interest in her personally. And yet she
had to pop off her gun. So why is she a hero for shooting at people who, in
running away, were obviously not interested in a confrontation? The answer
is that she felt threatened. Again, feeling threatened isn't a
justification for using a gun. As a paranoid, she is the hero of the
equally paranoid.
Lawrence, again:
"You sound just like a Canadian, Phil."
Thank you.
Lawrence concludes:
"Whatever I felt as a Marine or the old lady felt confronting the thieves,
we were standing there with our common sense turned on, knowing that the
people standing before us were our enemies. We knew that if they could, if
they thought we were weak and perhaps from Canada, they would take advantage
of us, take our weapons away from us and incapacitate us to some extent
before running away."
As a Canadian, of all the possible outcomes, the one where no one dies
strikes me as being obviously ideal. Further, living in a society where the
world is not divided up into the good guys vs. murderous enemies, stikes me
as being a good thing. I prefer a society that is able to differentiate
between violent and non-violent criminals. I prefer a society where there
is not the common assumption that any confrontation likely leads to people
shooting at each other. I also know that there are many communities in the
US that share these 'Canadian' values, so it is a bit silly to turn this
into a US vs. Canada thing.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
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