Guns in the work place

[nodaywithout]

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200311%5 CNAT20031118a.html

[lildobe]

Excellent Article!

For once the press has it right.

[VegasGeorge]

IMHO the opponents to carry in the workplace think that increasing the number of guns will, ipso facto, result in more workplace shootings. Underlying that fear is the notion that mere possession of a gun causes people to be more violent and irresponsible. There are two possibilities to explain such an effect: (1) that gun violence is impulsive, like buying trinkets displayed at the checkout line in the grocery store, or; (2) that carrying a gun brings out dangerous propensities lurking in the subconscious, the way driving a car turns some mild mannered folks into aggressive road hogs. In the first instance, having the gun handy facilitates the impulse to use it. In the second instance, the gun acts as an evil catalyst poisoning and corrupting the mind. I submit that on reflection, any reasonable person would have to agree that both of these possibilities are too remote to consider. Ordinary people are not prone to impulsive violence of any kind. And, people who carry guns do not develop violent tendencies. If either of these possibilities were actually prevalent effects of carrying a gun, they would be well documented by now. People have been carrying guns for hundreds of years. But, of course, there are no such effects documented. It is safe to say, that such effects do not exist.

[Bill of Rights]

IMHO the opponents to carry in the workplace think that increasing the number of guns will, ipso facto, result in more workplace shootings. Underlying that fear is the notion that mere possession of a gun causes people to be more violent and irresponsible. There are two possibilities to explain such an effect: (1) that gun violence is impulsive, like buying trinkets displayed at the checkout line in the grocery store, or; (2) that carrying a gun brings out dangerous propensities lurking in the subconscious, the way driving a car turns some mild mannered folks into aggressive road hogs. In the first instance, having the gun handy facilitates the impulse to use it. In the second instance, the gun acts as an evil catalyst poisoning and corrupting the mind. I submit that on reflection, any reasonable person would have to agree that both of these possibilities are too remote to consider. Ordinary people are not prone to impulsive violence of any kind. And, people who carry guns do not develop violent tendencies. If either of these possibilities were actually prevalent effects of carrying a gun, they would be well documented by now. People have been carrying guns for hundreds of years. But, of course, there are no such effects documented. It is safe to say, that such effects do not exist.

Your examples almost seem, on the surface, to support these ideas, George, though, yes, I do recognize your point clearly. People DO "impulse buy" in the checkout line, and people DO turn from mild-mannered folk into aggressive roadhogs when driving that several-hundred-pound machine down the road... but the chasm of difference is that neither of those actions has the express purpose of threatening, let alone taking another human life, one of the strongest taboos we have ingrained in us by the mere fact of being civilized people. To do so as a defender is acceptable to us because of the higher law: self-preservation. I find myself reminded of Raccoon's signature quote: "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm" --Orwell

The defenders, though rough they may be, are clearly idolized in that quote. Thanks, Raccoon, for using it, and thanks George, for posting to this very valid issue.

Cogito, ergo porto.

Blessings,
M