If anyone in
the USA needed a reason to think more deeply about the gun law issue, then they
should have been watching Piers Morgan on CNN TV today. I had to go out before I
saw the families of the Aurora massacre talking about how they felt about guns,
but I did see Piers interviewing a guy form a ‘defence league.’
If a reason
was needed to start a debate about fundamental change in the USA, then he
provided a prime example for the reasoning behind those almost sacredly held
views to be turned around. He took pride in seeing the ‘faces change on people
when they used guns.’ How sick is that? OK, I expect the proponents of the present
gun laws will say that he is not the ‘norm’ and that his thinking is flawed. Is
that so? Is he not typical of those who think they need an automatic weapon or
high powered gun to protect themselves from ‘home invasion,’ or other harm; or those
twats who say they need guns to protect themselves from the inevitable collapse
of the USA economy or the ‘takeover of the USA by the United nations?’
I guess in
any large population you are going to have the ‘fringe thinkers,’ and they will
give their lives to uphold their spurious beliefs. One does not have to look too
far to see examples of this type of thinking in the USA. That this groups and
the NRA hold so much sway over the law-making processes in the USA is indeed frightening.
Now, I
suspect that my blogs of late would have some in the USA (Let’s face it--- you
make up over 70% of my readership) thinking I am ‘hating on the USA;’ far from it.
I know that culturally and in many other ways, the people in New Zealand are
very much the same as New Zealanders. Take away the accent differences and 90%
of the time, you would find that we speak with the same words; have the same
aspirations and within the bounds of ethnic diversity, look the same. Yeah, we
are even as fat as our friends in the USA!
We have the same
sense of community, a similar education system, same faith system along with
the variants. It is more a matter of scale which throws up the differences. You
just have a large number of ‘way-out’ cults and belief systems,’ but take those
variations away and---WE ARE THE SAME, APART FROM YOUR TOTALLY irrational love
affair with guns.
You have
been fed this crap about the Second Amendment, which was formulated at time
that was uncertain politically and based the right to bear arms on weapons that
would have trouble hitting a squirrel at a hundred yards. OK, slightly exaggerated,
but you get my point.
In this day
and age, such rights kill, not protect. There I go again—I have upset some
friends I regularly talk to in the USA. They abhor my stance re guns. They
demand the right to protect themselves from rapists and other harm. They say---‘Why
should we give up our rights to arm ourselves because a few loonies go out and slaughter
people. We are not like that.’
Of course
you are not! Are we confusing rights and freedom, or overstressing our individual
rights at the expense of the overall safety of the nation? Is there not a point
where you need to sacrifice some of those rights because the perceived means of
defending them has forced a price that is just too high for the USA? I believe
you have reached that point as a nation. This stance goes very much against
what Americans have held true for many years.
‘Well you
can just bug off,’ you say, sometimes using much stronger words. Well, no we can’t.
The USA has put itself out there as a nation that has influenced the world
culture. The USA has power way beyond its population base. That brings with it
a certain responsibility that means the rest of the world also has a right to comment.
The USA and its huge economy depend on the rest of the world and unless you go
back to the old days of ‘Isolationism,’ then you must listen to what the world
says.
Whether you want
it or not, a good deal of the world holds the USA ‘up there’ as a nation to emulate
despite the bombs that hit your embassies around the world. This is not going
to change in the near future. So---USA---have this debate and accept that we
are all watching to see which pathway you take. Do what you need to stop
killing your children, even if that means giving up some of your so-called ‘freedoms.’