We live in interesting times. While
most of those reading (and writing) this blog are trying to prepare
for disasters and emergencies, there is a part of our audience who don't get much attention: they're preparing for a man-made disaster
that is looking more possible every day.
When we started this blog and the
Facebook group, one of our first rules was “No Politics”.
Political discussion is by definition divisive, and we choose to avoid
chasing away potential readers. We don't really care what your
political views are; we're here to help you prepare for when bad
things happen. There is, however, one subject that carries a lot of political
potential and I have tried to avoid it, but things are getting close to
becoming serious and I feel a need to address some of the causes and
ways things could go wrong.
The subject I'm talking about is gun
control.
Firearms are a common tool in most
prepper circles. They are useful for hunting and self defense, and if
properly maintained, a quality firearm will last more than a lifetime.
The oldest in my small collection was made for WW1, so it's about 100
years old now and it still works. Firearms are old technology, not
hard to make with modern tools and a little training, and they are
still evolving.
The USA has a history of firearms
ownership and the right to arms is protected by our Constitution. It
will take an amendment to our Constitution for the gun control people
to get their way, and that's not an easy task. Not many other
countries have our level of firearms ownership, and even fewer have
the right to them in their basic law. With more guns in the USA than
there are people, I don't see them going away any time soon.
The proponents of gun control come in a
few different flavors, with some falling into more than one
category:
Those who have suffered a personal
loss
I understand grief and loss. I
understand wanting to prevent tragedy from happening again. These do
not give you special status to proclaim that you're right and
everyone else is wrong, nor do they override the rights of people who
had nothing to do with your tragedy.
Those who don't understand guns
The amount of bad information and
outright lies being spread about guns is appalling. Movies portray
them in farcical ways, the blathering idiots on the news have no clue
about the subject, and special interest groups tell blatant lies
about their capabilities. Some of this is lack of education, but a
lot of it is willful ignorance. Willingly and loudly denying facts,
along with inventing your own “facts” is a common problem now.
The only other subject I can think of that gets this kind of
treatment is nuclear power.
Those who use gun control as a means
to gain influence
Politicians want to get re-elected, so
they say what you want to hear. Since there is a national election
coming up, we're hearing all kinds of grand statements from
candidates right now. Groups looking for donations will say what they
need to in order to keep the money flowing (this happens on both
sides of the subject). The second-tier political class of lobbyist
and “experts” want to stay influential in order to keep their jobs. It's
all about the money to them, and greed is a powerful motivator.
Those who want control over others
There are always going to be those who
think that they are rulers. In their minds, they are the rightful
leaders and should be in charge of everyone else. Dissent is seen as
a personal attack on them and is usually met with anger and a
defensive attitude. These people realize that it is hard to force an
armed person to bend to their will and thus seek to disarm anyone
“beneath” them. These people are the ones responsible for
millions of deaths over the last hundred years. These are the people
who created
the first gun control laws after the slaves were freed in order to prevent them from being able to defend themselves. In recent
decades they have chosen the incremental approach to gun control,
nibbling away at our rights while always seeking complete control.
All four groups seek to punish people
who have committed no crime for the actions of someone who has. The
current ideas being thrown around vary from background checks
(already in place) to confiscation of certain types of guns. They are
being met with resistance from a few different types of opposition:
Vocal protest
There are some people willing to be the
face of opposition, and they deserve some respect and support. I
choose to ignore the lunatic fringes of both sides for the most part,
but they are the ones who get the most news coverage. They have
chosen to be the lightning rod for an increasingly violent discussion
and the rules of political discourse have changed dramatically in
recent years. Threats of violence and the public dissemination of
personal data (doxxing) are now standard procedure. Deep searches of
every public statement, and many private ones, has been simplified
with the Internet and digital archives. Something said or done
decades ago is now being used to silence anyone who doesn't fall in
line with the “narrative”. There are signs that the pro-guns side
is starting to use the same tactics, which is a sign of escalation.
Silent protest
There are a lot of people who are
quietly buying as much ammunition and as many firearms as they can to
be prepared for any eventual ban or restriction. Having sufficient
stores of arms and ammunition to provide food and safety for your
family is a good goal in my book. Some of those silent protesters are
arming for what they see as a coming “Civil War 2.0”, where they
will have to fight to recover rights that are being taken away. This
is a scenario that will not end well for either side, and everyone
caught in the middle will suffer the most.
Being ignored
Countries and states are passing
stricter laws covering magazine capacity and sometimes types of
firearms, byt hey are routinely being ignored by the average citizens.
Canada's failed national registration, California and New York's
“assault rifle” registration, New Jersey's failed magazine ban,
and several others are all proof that passing a law doesn't mean
everyone is going to obey it. The majority of criminals have been
ignoring the laws for years, so passing more isn't going to affect
them at all.
I'm not sure which way things are going
to go in the near future. We could see more incremental erosion of
our rights, or the current push for more laws may stall out. Any
attempt at confiscation on a large scale would be enough to push a
lot of gun rights supporters into becoming criminals and their
opponents would label them terrorists or worse. I believe this would
create a spiral into that “Civil War 2.0” that some are seeking,
leading to a lot of grief and bloodshed.
