Guns and Roses

We Americans have the right to bear arms.  The common refrain is that we need increasingly advanced weapons in our residences for the purpose of self-defense, or, perhaps, as a last resort tool to keep the government in line – or even to be used to overthrow the government.

Admirable, of course.  Even understandable from a rational and historical view.  Governments, we know, understand force of arms and its power derives from the use of weapons against other countries and against its own populace.  While weapons exist, the citizenry inherently accept subjugation as a form of government.

Countries that have disarmed the populace – but not disarmed itself – have done terrible things to their citizens.  We could take that to mean that weapons (increasingly advanced) must also be in the hands of the citizens.  But we should never jump to just one conclusion.  Countries that have disarmed – forcibly, as in Japan, and voluntarily, as in Costa Rica, Australia, and others – neither suffer nor disintegrate nor lose the sought-after notion of sovereignty.

Disarmament is a key element of peace.  (For those of you keeping score at home, that’s both a negative and positive peace, although I prefer the latter and intended its use with that statement).

It is not enough to have an admirable buy-back program.  It is not enough to demilitarize the police.  It is not enough to end overseas wars.  These, along with others, are definitely  essential elements of disarmament and of working toward peace.  Not only is a disarmed populace desirable for obvious reasons involving the loss of life, but the government and its agents must completely disarm – probably at the same rate as the citizens – both “light-arms” and tanks and missiles and nuclear weapons.

We have a choice of course.  Ending the use or threat of use of weapons means an end to endless wars and endless shootings.  Even the necessary removal of all weapons will not prevent a right to bear arms, but it could lead to a government by the living and for the living.  It’s past time for full disarmament.