America’s Made-Up Culture Of Guns
BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 7 months ago
Paul Waldman at The Week.
We are a nation divided, as everyone knows. And what we need to fix that problem is to reach out, express some empathy, and show our opponents that we don’t hate them even if we disagree.
Or at least, that’s what liberals are supposed to do.
You can hear that argument everywhere on the subject of guns: Whatever policy changes liberals might be proposing, it’s important to communicate to gun owners that you respect their culture and you don’t mean to wage an assault on their way of life. When someone like retired Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens writes an op-ed in The New York Times calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment, it only convinces people that you’re a bunch of gun-grabbers.
I’m all for respecting other people’s cultures and taking their feelings into account. But when was the last time you heard someone implore conservatives to respect the culture of coastal or urban-dwelling liberals?
We’re told that if you grew up around guns, then you’re right to worry that your culture could be eroded, and we need to understand and sympathize with your perspective. But here’s something that might surprise you: For millions of Americans, not having guns around is an important cultural value. It’s part of how we define the kind of places we’d like to live. Since most Americans don’t own guns, maybe that’s worthy of respect and consideration, too.
We never seem to hear that — both sides of the gun issue may have opinions, but only one side is supposed to have a “culture.” But it’s important to understand that “gun culture” is a relatively recent invention.
Make no mistake, in the past a greater proportion of Americans owned guns than do today. As recently as 1977, half of American households had guns, according to the General Social Survey; by 2016 that number was down to 32 percent. But back when a far greater portion of the American public lived in rural areas and small towns than do today, there wasn’t really anything like today’s “gun culture.” If you had a hunting rifle or a shotgun your dad gave you, as millions of Americans did, you weren’t participating in an encompassing “culture” in which guns defined your identity. That gun was a tool, like a broom or a shovel or a cleaver.
But the gun culture of today, with so much fetishizaton of guns and an entire political/commercial industry working hard to spread and solidify the idea that guns are not just a thing you own but who you are, is what we’re now expected to show respect for. For instance, the idea that anyone should be able to own military-style rifles designed to kill as many human beings in as short a period as possible, for no real reason other than the fact that some people think they’re cool, is supposed to be a part of people’s culture, no matter how ludicrous it would have seemed to your grandparents.
And when you say something is part of your culture, you’re placing it beyond reasoned judgment. Its status as a component of culture infuses it with value that can’t be argued against. I don’t tell you that your religious rituals are silly, because they have deep meaning for those within that culture. Your ethnic group’s traditional music may not be pleasing to my ears, but I’m not going to argue that it sucks and you ought to start listening to real music, defined as whatever I happen to like. The food your parents taught you to make from the old country might not be to my taste, but I’ll appreciate it (at least once or twice) as a window into another aspect of our rich human tapestry.
In other words, when you place something in the sphere of culture, you automatically afford it a kind of conditional immunity from criticism. And you can demand that it be respected.
Nobody understands this better than gun advocates, who have been working to change the culture around guns, and our expectations about them, for some time. With only the most minimal restrictions on who can buy guns and what kind, their focus in recent years has been on putting guns in the hands of as many people as possible in as many places as possible. State laws have been passed to allow guns in government buildings, churches, schools, restaurants, even bars. They encourage people to get concealed carry licenses and to open carry whenever possible, to inculcate everyone with the idea that we should just expect to see guns wherever we go — until their culture becomes your reality, whether you like it or not.
Oh my God. You’re not going to cry, are you Paul? Based on the tone of this commentary, I think you’re going to cry. You don’t want to hold hands in a circle and sing Kumbaya, do you Paul? Because I don’t think I can take that.
Listen Paul and others like Paul. We’re educated enough to know that the war of independence was catalyzed over gun control. We also know that guns were not only ubiquitous in colonial America, they were highly valued and used for all manner of things, including self defense and the amelioration of tyranny.
In the colonies, availability of hunting and need for defense led to armament statues comparable to those of the early Saxon times. In 1623, Virginia forbade its colonists to travel unless they were “well armed”; in 1631 it required colonists to engage in target practice on Sunday and to “bring their peeces to church.” In 1658 it required every householder to have a functioning firearm within his house and in 1673 its laws provided that a citizen who claimed he was too poor to purchase a firearm would have one purchased for him by the government, which would then require him to pay a reasonable price when able to do so. In Massachusetts, the first session of the legislature ordered that not only freemen, but also indentured servants own firearms and in 1644 it imposed a stern 6 shilling fine upon any citizen who was not armed.
When the British government began to increase its military presence in the colonies in the mid-eighteenth century, Massachusetts responded by calling upon its citizens to arm themselves in defense. One colonial newspaper argued that it was impossible to complain that this act was illegal since they were “British subjects, to whom the privilege of possessing arms is expressly recognized by the Bill of Rights” while another argued that this “is a natural right which the people have reserved to themselves, confirmed by the Bill of Rights, to keep arms for their own defense”. The newspaper cited Blackstone’s commentaries on the laws of England, which had listed the “having and using arms for self preservation and defense” among the “absolute rights of individuals.” The colonists felt they had an absolute right at common law to own firearms.
The culture you’re talking about, where you want safety and cradle to grave security from the state is the one that’s new, not mine. Furthermore, I feel absolutely no brotherhood with you or your kind at all. In the defense of kin and kith, you can have your state because I won’t be there to help you. You can sleep in the bed of your choice.
You have a right to the culture you seek, but what you don’t have a right to do is enforce yours on me or mine. And that’s what it would take, Paul. We’re through talking. There is no discussion on this that can make me change my mind, there is no compromise.
When you ascribe the differences to “culture,” I don’t think you understand that it’s a comprehensive world and life view that separates us, not merely culture. You can respect mine or not. I really don’t care either way. The bottom line here for you is that the gulf that separates us is far wider and deeper and more problematic than you can imagine, and will never be bridged. We will never come to agreement over these things, any more than we will about whether the state has the right to confiscate our wealth and redistribute it, force us to buy products or services, or force us to believe in certain things and behave in certain ways.
Your best solution is for some sort of amicable separation of the two of us, some peaceful departure that lets us live the way we choose and lets you worship the state. Would you go for a solution like that? I’m betting not, because the fundamental rule of controllers is that you want to control the lives of others no matter the cost.
On April 2, 2018 at 7:10 am, ragman said:
I’m done with trying to talk to fools like Paul. There will never be an agreement between us and them. I will not refer to their stance as “gun control “ ever again. It’s confiscation, pure and simple. My answer is a resounding NO, your turn.
On April 2, 2018 at 7:44 am, June J said:
Paul, it’s not just your anti-gun culture that is in opposition to the culture of those of us who exercise our 2nd amendment rights. Your culture of depravity in media, lifestyles choices, pseudo science, nanny state, killing unborn children, open borders with unchecked illegal immigrants, forced acceptance of behaviors that not too long ago were considered mental illnesses, assault upon our freedom of religion and speech and general willingness to demonstrate that you despise us for being unlike you that is in opposition to values we hold.
Every inch we’ve ever yielded to you in the culture war has only emboldened you to push for a mile.
Well, we’re just not going to take it much more. Your side has pushed and derided and declared war upon us. Now that you can see there may be unintended consequences to your actions you want to extend an olive branch?
Sorry, experience shows us that you don’t mean it and next week you’ll be slapping us with your gloves in challenge to something else about us you don’t agree with.
We have shown a willingness to allow you your depravity in some states while desperately trying to keep some states for ourselves. Yet, you are unwilling to let us be as we have been to allow you to live as you see fit. We see that you will never be satisfied until you have crushed those who think and act and live their lives differently than you.
There exists no longer a “united” states of America, you progressive socialists have destroyed it. So, I leave you with this,
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
On April 2, 2018 at 9:09 am, Guy Gardner said:
These arguements are as old as tyranny, the communist brand of oppression the most favored. What I find most amazing is the simple fact that all states have their own constitution and many of those have very strong second amendment protections. We now live in a nation that is completely lawless. Those tasked to protect, destroy. Those tasked to uphold deny justice. Those of us you have read the writings of the survivers of communisioms , have long said prepare for the coming war. God has divided this nation and only God can prevent what is coming upon us.What did they call armed believers in the 11th,
12th, and 13th centuries? It may well return, God willing, for our own protection and survival.
On April 2, 2018 at 9:27 am, Fred said:
He’s a liar.
@June is 100% correct. A people that who don’t know God might fall this guys drivel but it’s really rather simple; “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
“For millions of Americans, not having guns around is an important cultural value. It’s part of how we define the kind of places we’d like to live.”
-If this was true the left would let us go our own way in peace with an amicable separation. But they will never let that happen because it’s about power and money.
“their focus in recent years has been on putting guns in the hands of as many people as possible in as many places as possible.”
-And this remains my focus because armed women don’t get raped and armed elderly don’t get robbed and an armed man won’t get on a rail car. See there, his mask slipped. He want’s your daughters defenseless at the mercy of the state. He’s not only a liar he’s anti women and wants you dead.
On April 2, 2018 at 9:29 am, Pat Hines said:
Nineteen years ago a professor, Michael Bellesiles, published a book based on his “research” that asserted the same sort of idea. That guns were rare on the North American continent, particularly in the English speaking areas.
When other scholars demanded to see his supporting documents, he eventually presented a “dog ate my homework” excuse. Something about his voluminous research papers being destroyed by a broken water pipe, or something like that.
Bellesiles had been given the Bancroft Prize, for historians if I remember correctly, but that was eventually rescinded. Later, after it was proven that all of his research was bogus, he was fired from his tenured position.
It’s odd how this concept resurfaces from time to time, as if it can be made to be true if it’s only repeated over and over again.
On April 2, 2018 at 10:37 am, moe mensale said:
Regarding the so-called decline in gun-owning households, I’d attribute that to people wising up and not answering truthfully on any of these social surveys. I haven’t owned any guns for decades. :)
On April 2, 2018 at 10:47 am, Herschel Smith said:
@moe,
Yea, it’s always amazing to me that any surveyor thinks that folks are going to answer truthfully about guns.
Gullible rubes.
On April 2, 2018 at 11:12 am, revjen45 said:
Compromising with the hoplophobes would be like African-Americans negotiating as to how far from the back of the bus they can sit. According to the viewpoint of the Gun Grabbers anything short of total confiscation is acceptable under 2A, so as long as the Black People can get on the bus at all their rights aren’t being violated, right? No? I didn’t think so.
On April 2, 2018 at 11:42 am, June J said:
@moe, herschel
I agree – based upon the comments I read in many blogs, less people are answering truthfully the surveys about gun ownership.
I see part of the decline in gun ownership to be a result of what the author acknowledges, the movement of millions from rural living to big cities. And in those big cities dominated by leftists, those millions of people are denied their 2nd Amendment rights to own a firearm.
How many more “households” would have a firearm if the millions of city dwellers didn’t have their right infringed upon?
On April 2, 2018 at 2:08 pm, Henry said:
“But it’s important to understand that “gun culture” is a relatively recent invention.”
Yup, the same old lie that Mike Bellesiles eventually got drilled about five new ones for claiming. Now I understand he spends his days in the park playing Gin Rummy with Art Kellerman.
On April 2, 2018 at 2:53 pm, Gryphon said:
June J – “Your culture of depravity in media, lifestyles choices, pseudo science, nanny state, killing unborn children, open borders with unchecked illegal immigrants, forced acceptance of behaviors that not too long ago were considered mental illnesses, assault upon our freedom of religion and speech and general willingness to demonstrate that you despise us for being unlike you that is in opposition to values we hold.. ” is Spot-On, and the bolsheviks who Promote this stuff couldn’t Care Less what We Think or Believe. Communism, with all its attendant Evils, IS (((their))) End Goal, and however Hundreds of Millions of Bodies (including the Aborted)are piled up, it’s ‘All Good’ if it advances the (((Agenda))) of communism.
People like Paul Waldman are beginning to (appear to others) look like borderline Retarded; The Guns aren’t going anywhere, and Waldman and his ‘fellow travelers’ are as Delusional about this Fact as any LGBTQRSTWTF’s are about their Biological Gender. This Society is Disintegrating, Fast, and the leftists who are driving this process have Absolutely No Fkk’n Clue as to how it will ‘Play Out’ when the final Snowflake lands on the Hillside, triggering the Avalanche.
p.s. You Don’t have enough Ammo.
On April 2, 2018 at 5:31 pm, Jeffrey Dege said:
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
– Sam Adams
On April 3, 2018 at 8:07 am, Casey Rieck said:
The gun culture may be relatively new but it was proceeded by the bow and arrow culture, the spear culture, the sword culture and the thrown stone culture. Since the time of Cain and Able prudent people have relied on weapons to protect themselves from illegitimate force.
I wonder why these opinion pieces don’t allow comments?
On April 3, 2018 at 9:32 am, Fred said:
@Casey,
I really like your comment. And one could even state that ‘because Cain killed Able’ prudent people have relied on weapons to protect themselves from illegitimate force.
In fact, I’m going to point this out to some of the sissified Christians that I know. Thanks for that.
On April 3, 2018 at 9:37 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Fred @ Casey,
And Cain killed Abel because of original sin. It all goes back to the fall and federal headship, and thus mankind hasn’t changed and will not change, despite the collectivist utopian project of the progressives.
On April 8, 2018 at 3:53 am, Macumazahn said:
“For millions of Americans, not having guns around is an important cultural value. It’s part of how we define the kind of places we’d like to live. Since most Americans don’t own guns, maybe that’s worthy of respect and consideration, too.”
Even if we were to accept that as a legitimate point, there’s still one crucial difference: my culture (gun culture as you call it) does not impact your liberty in any way. It neither invades your home nor does it dictate to you what you may or may not do. Not only does this attribute place my culture in direct opposition to the “cultural value(s)” you espouse, it proves that my culture is in harmony with that of America’s founders.