During the Christmas shopping season last year, I walked into a toy store in an American mall. After thoroughly looking around for a Christmas gift for my favorite nephew, exasperated, I finally had to ask a sales-clerk for help: \u201cWhere are your toy guns located? I can\u2019t seem to find one anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u201d she said, with an air of self-righteous, pompous indignation, \u201cI am afraid we don\u2019t sell those things here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d I asked, astounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d she replied, in a manner suggesting a stupid question on my part, \u201cour store is socially responsible toward children and the greater society at large. We don\u2019t like to promote violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPromote violence?\u201d I repeated, incredulously.<\/p>\n
\u201cLady, I was brought up on toy guns. How could a young lad grow up without ever cradling a toy rifle affectionately in his arms? That\u2019s unhealthy. That\u2019s just unacceptable. A little boy without a toy rifle is a lot like a little girl without a Barbie doll. Why, that\u2019s just not right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sorry,\u201d she repeated, \u201cWe just don\u2019t believe in violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cViolence? Look, I am not a violent man. On the contrary, guns build character. They promote self-reliance and build self-esteem. They advance the protection of sacred private property rights, and foster an uplifting sense of rugged individualism and independence.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t you put them behind the counter for parents who wish to purchase them for their stable, mature children? That is, after a two-week waiting period and a complete child psychological examination, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
Far too many people erroneously think of guns as inherently evil and destructive. When they think of guns, they think of death–of war, crime and disaster.<\/p>\n
But as I conceive it, guns are actually life affirming tools. They also protect life and property. Whenever I fire a rifle, it actually gives me a great high, a tremendous feeling of life affirmation and the realization of the sanctity of man\u2019s life. (I just love that crackling, reverberating sound of rifle fire at a firing range.)<\/p>\n
Merely to contemplate the potential of death at the end of the barrel seems to somehow reinforce the life force that is consciously, deliberately, pulling that trigger. It is a curious phenomenon; something I feel is innately, inextricably, intertwined with the whole idea of freedom–the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights, the founding fathers of the American Revolution of 1776.<\/p>\n
Also, there is the powerful, rather uplifting notion that this rifle, right here in my hands, is capable of killing any living animal on earth\u2014-be it an elephant, a tiger, or a deer. No matter how large, quick, or ferocious an animal, man can kill it, with this here weapon here. And that speaks to me in a rather metaphysical way\u2014-a way that suggests man\u2019s inherent superiority here on earth, as well as in the entire universe, particularly when you consider much more powerful arsenals, such as nukes against incoming asteroids.<\/p>\n
I was prompted to write about guns today, because a friend had sent me the following e-mail yesterday. It is purportedly an excerpt from a recent live interview on an undisclosed radio station. A female newscaster is interviewing the leader of a youth club.<\/p>\n
Female reporter: So, Mr. Jones, what are you going to do with these children on this adventure holiday?<\/p>\n
Mr. Jones: We\u2019re going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, shooting….<\/p>\n
Female reporter: Shooting! That\u2019s a bit irresponsible, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Mr. Jones: I don\u2019t see why, they\u2019ll be properly supervised on the range.<\/p>\n
Female reporter: Don\u2019t you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?<\/p>\n
Mr. Jones: I don\u2019t see how, we will be teaching them proper range discipline before they even touch a firearm.<\/p>\n
Female reporter: But you\u2019re training, and equipping them to become violent killers.<\/p>\n
Mr. Jones: Well, you are fully trained and equipped to be a prostitute, but you are not one, are you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During the Christmas shopping season last year, I walked into a toy store in an American mall. After thoroughly looking around for a Christmas gift for my favorite nephew, exasperated, I finally had to ask a sales-clerk for help: \u201cWhere are your toy guns located? I can\u2019t seem to find one anywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}