Are guns evil in and of themselves?
Obviously, the answer is no. They have no volition of their own. They're simply mechanical objects with no free will or anything else. They're simply devices that can be used for good or ill. They can serve hero and villain equally because they have no consciousness of their own.
But some people see them as evil or something. They seem to think their mere existence is problematic and dangerous.
I've known this for quite a while, of course, but every now and then, I come across something that reminds me of just how idiotic people can be about it.
This time, it's the response to an interview with someone at the Republican National Convention.
President Joe Biden says he want to ban A4-15s after the semi-automatic rifle was used by a gunman in the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Matt Frei of Channel 4 News was at the Republican convention in Milwaukee and thought he’d ask some of the delegates what they made of that.
And while you probably know which way the conversation is going to go, it’s still a proper jaw-dropper, not least the twist in the tale which surely no-one saw coming.
Matt Frei, "President Biden said he wants to ban AR-15s after the shooting at the weekend, do you agree with him?"
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) July 17, 2024
Lady with hat, "Absolutely not"
MF, "Why not?"
Lady with hat, "I own AR-15s. I own a pink one, it's really scary"
MF, "How many guns do you have?"
Lady with… pic.twitter.com/t5wJkjx0RBShe’s a nurse? Extraordinary scenes …
And here’s exactly what people made of that.
First, there's nothing extraordinary about someone saying they own guns. Sure, owning 20 is more than some people, but I know folks who have a couple hundred guns, so this doesn't exactly faze me.
But the response to this woman, a nurse, are what's extraordinary. [Warning that some of these contain stronger language than some might prefer.]
I’m sorry, but there is no other explanation - she, like millions of other Americans, are as thick as fuck.
— Ted Smith 🇪🇺 (@TedUrchin) July 17, 2024
When I go in to get a booster jab I don’t want I’d delivered by an AR-15
— digiguru (@thedigiguru) July 17, 2024
Yes, because that's how it works. People who like guns use them for everything. I swear to all that is holy, if I rolled my eyes any harder at that, I'd have given my self a migraine.
There are others, but they're in a similar vein.
Now, granted, this is apparently focused on non-Americans, but a number of them seem concerned that the nurse has 20 guns. Why?
A common criticism of someone having this many is that you can only shoot one or two at a time--and two only works if your firearm training came from Hollywood--so why do you need so many?
However, a better question is why are people so bent out of shape about someone having a lot of guns if I can only shoot one or two at a time? If I'm dangerous, one gun is plenty. If I'm peaceful, a thousand guns represent no problem at all.
So what's the problem here?
The problem in so many cases like this is that guns are simply looked at as dangerous for simply existing. Granted, that's part of what they're designed to be, but simply owning them isn't an issue. There's nothing in this interview that remotely suggests anything beyond responsible gun ownership. They see this as dangerous because those guns exist at all.
It's funny because collections are common. A lot of people collect a lot of things. I've got a pretty respectable collection of vintage woodworking tools. My son collects Lego sets. We all remember people collecting Beanie Babies like they were investing in early Bitcoin. People collect things.
Gun collections are no more dangerous than car, knife, or sword collections.
Anti-gunners need to come to understand this.
