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Even most automatic firearms are relatively simple, as machines go; what's complicated are the politics of the modern United States on the subject of this parti

by aaronem 13y ago

Even most automatic firearms are relatively simple, as machines go; what's complicated are the politics of the modern United States on the subject of this particular class of machine. Is it somehow "conservative" to say that I've never really understood why that should be? One person, who wishes badly enough to kill another, will invariably find some tool to use in the attempt, and firearms are far from the only tools which can be used to inflict lethal injury on a human being. There is no more inherent controversy in this statement than in the statement that, should you find yourself with a nail to drive and no hammer with which to do so, you'll find some other expedient and drive your nail with it -- perhaps you'll hit it with a crowbar, or half a brick, or so forth. Using a hammer is the easiest way to drive a nail, but the variety of means by which to do so is, if not necessarily infinite, then certainly bounded only by the limits of human ingenuity. If you wish nails not to be driven, why then does it make sense to ban hammers, rather than to place nail-driving beyond the pale of law -- and then enforce that law, as firmly as you find necessary to discourage whatever recalcitrance you encounter on the part of inveterate carpenters?

thenmar 13y ago
Are you really so lacking in perspective that you don't understand how guns lower the bar of "badly wishing to kill another" significantly?
- aaronem 13y ago
  Would that the human urge to kill were so tractable! I find your optimism refreshing.
  - vacri 13y ago
    It actually is that tractable. Plenty of murders are 'heat of the moment' things, where a lowered bar is significant. You seem intent on casting all gun violence as serenely premeditated. It very much isn't.
    - aaronem 13y ago
      Nor need it be for my point to stand; unpremeditated murder of the sort you describe is precisely the sort in which the nature of the weapon employed is of least significance, and the difference between a firearm and, say, an improvised bludgeon, has only to do with the amount of effort required on the part of the murderer to satisfy the urge which drives him.
      - thenmar 13y ago
        Am I the only one who thinks it's a little distracting how artificially formal this guy is? Anyway, it's freakin obvious how much easier it is to pull a trigger with only a little hesitation than to get a brick out and beat somebody to death. I don't understand how you don't see that. It's like you've already made your decision and no matter what anyone says, you're 100% confident you can explain it away before you even see it.
        benched 13y ago
        No. I have the urge to tag every post of his with 'Congratulations on talking so pretty," but I don't want to be banned.
        aaronem 13y ago
        Why, you flatter me, sir! I am just a half-bright reader of old books who feels himself moved to imitate, however poorly, the gracious use of language he finds therein -- but I thank you very kindly, all the same.
        aaronem 13y ago
        I do delight in the use of formal language, and thank you for the compliment inherent in the adverb you chose; the best things in life, after all, are the result of artifice. It's obvious enough that killing someone with a firearm is easier than doing likewise with a brick. For a civilized, i.e. domesticated, human, acting upon the urge to kill at all is harder than either; a large part of what we call "civilization" consists in overcoming our murderous heritage. (Or did you think we humans have ended up our entire planet's uncontested apex predator, so much so that many of us never even have to hunt, because we're just so nice?) And have you considered the possibility that, once you've clobbered somebody in the head with a brick the first time, your perspective on the matter might change? God forfend I should ever find myself in such a position! But I think it reasonable to imagine that, once there, it might seem at least as sensible to keep going as to stop. "Escalation of commitment," I think it's called.
hipaulgraham 13y ago
Wow, just wow. Can you really not see that guns are horrible tools which easily allow us to slaughter each other? I felt horrible just reading your comments, and I've never been shot at by someone wielding an AK-47. Do you really have absolutely no compassion for your fellow humans?

by aaronem 13y ago

thenmar 13y ago

Are you really so lacking in perspective that you don't understand how guns lower the bar of "badly wishing to kill another" significantly?

aaronem 13y ago
Would that the human urge to kill were so tractable! I find your optimism refreshing.
- vacri 13y ago
  It actually is that tractable. Plenty of murders are 'heat of the moment' things, where a lowered bar is significant. You seem intent on casting all gun violence as serenely premeditated. It very much isn't.
  - aaronem 13y ago
    Nor need it be for my point to stand; unpremeditated murder of the sort you describe is precisely the sort in which the nature of the weapon employed is of least significance, and the difference between a firearm and, say, an improvised bludgeon, has only to do with the amount of effort required on the part of the murderer to satisfy the urge which drives him.
    - thenmar 13y ago
      Am I the only one who thinks it's a little distracting how artificially formal this guy is? Anyway, it's freakin obvious how much easier it is to pull a trigger with only a little hesitation than to get a brick out and beat somebody to death. I don't understand how you don't see that. It's like you've already made your decision and no matter what anyone says, you're 100% confident you can explain it away before you even see it.
      - benched 13y ago
        No. I have the urge to tag every post of his with 'Congratulations on talking so pretty," but I don't want to be banned.
        aaronem 13y ago
        Why, you flatter me, sir! I am just a half-bright reader of old books who feels himself moved to imitate, however poorly, the gracious use of language he finds therein -- but I thank you very kindly, all the same.
      - aaronem 13y ago
        I do delight in the use of formal language, and thank you for the compliment inherent in the adverb you chose; the best things in life, after all, are the result of artifice. It's obvious enough that killing someone with a firearm is easier than doing likewise with a brick. For a civilized, i.e. domesticated, human, acting upon the urge to kill at all is harder than either; a large part of what we call "civilization" consists in overcoming our murderous heritage. (Or did you think we humans have ended up our entire planet's uncontested apex predator, so much so that many of us never even have to hunt, because we're just so nice?) And have you considered the possibility that, once you've clobbered somebody in the head with a brick the first time, your perspective on the matter might change? God forfend I should ever find myself in such a position! But I think it reasonable to imagine that, once there, it might seem at least as sensible to keep going as to stop. "Escalation of commitment," I think it's called.

hipaulgraham 13y ago

Wow, just wow. Can you really not see that guns are horrible tools which easily allow us to slaughter each other? I felt horrible just reading your comments, and I've never been shot at by someone wielding an AK-47. Do you really have absolutely no compassion for your fellow humans?