A variety of passionate appeals both for and against gun control flood the Internet. It’s time to lay my position out on this because: 1) I focus on community in general and this issue has a community component; and 2) this might help a close friend of mine. In the interest of full disclosure my friend is for gun control, so of course I’ll start out by playing devil’s advocate.
No gun control measure in any state would affect me. If my kids were still in school the likelihood of them falling victim to a madman with a semiautomatic would remain similarly close to nil both before and after any gun control measure that would be passed. A madman will find a way, with or without gun control, but in either case the likelihood remains small. Similarly, my own endangerment or ability to protect myself will remain the same with or without gun control measures. The reason? I am thankful to live in a nation state with diverse communities from which I can choose to live. My choice of community is more important to me than choice of career, choice of gun control legislation, or a great many other factors that might affect one’s choice.
I choose to live in a community where I have not the slightest fear of safety for me or my kids as they were growing up. Nothing is guaranteed. I could die in a car accident today. Yet I don’t go living my life in fear of every possibility that might harm me or mine. Harm from gun violence is minimal in my chosen community, with or without extra gun controls.
That’s not the way advocates on either side of the issue want me to see it. They want America to be afraid or angry … very, very afraid or angry … one way or the other. Fear and anger are major impediments to kindness, major impediments to humanity, major impediments to community. America already pulsates with fear and anger these days, particularly since the advent of consolidated media, as interest groups for all kinds of issues use these tools to persuade us that their concerns should be our concerns.
I would like to turn the tables on these folks. Rather than America being preoccupied over the actions of nations and states in regards to gun control measures, I would have fear and anger peddlers take control of their own lives by making community the first priority in where they choose to live. Ah, but this brings to mind some differences between the small band societies known as communities from the large mass societies known as nations or states.
No autonomous small band society of which I am aware allows concealed weapons. There’s an obvious reason for this. Autonomous small band societies from early nomads to the Hutterites are way more intimate and social with each other than what occurs in mass societies, and concealing a weapon is a rather antisocial thing to do. So if community were to become a main preoccupation for a former fear/anger peddler, rather than the various “freedoms” (really “indulgences”) enabled by nations or states, they likely would have to forget about the mass society right to conceal a weapon.
Nor could autonomous small band society feature advanced weaponry, because at that level of autonomy there are neither the sufficient resources nor demands for such weaponry. Any “right” to advanced weaponry is, once again, a result of mass society, not pertinent to small band living. For that matter, how does advanced weaponry fit into the fabric of autonomous small band living? I suppose it matters for communes of survivalists, but they exist in reaction to the larger mass society and not really as an unconcerned, autonomous community. No, a convert to community as the first priority for choosing where to live could not also have the gun privileges only nations and states can provide as a first priority.
Now I can see this being a sticking point with gun collectors. Granted, they are blissfully unaware of just how dependent they are on nations and states to be able to collect things like advanced weaponry, but even if they did not feel entitled to certain state-dependent gun privileges they would nevertheless want them. Should I oppose gun control measures, despite their irrelevance for me or small band living, for the sake of gun collectors? That’s really not a compelling interest to me.
It’s because of this lack of compelling interest, and the realities of prioritizing community, that aligns me more with gun control advocates rather than those desiring the gun privileges only nations and states can provide. Granted, I resent fear and anger being peddled by the gun control advocates just as much, but they are at least advocating positions more consistent with small band, communal living rather than the indulgences only made possible through nations and states.
