On Gun Violence

PRAXIS – A HARD THEORY PUT INTO PRACTICE

By Reverend Eric Kaminetzky ©2013

Authority and Responsibility

Freedom is conditional. In some cases freedom is tied to the appropriate exercise of authority and responsibility.

I wonder where the conversation about regulating gun violence intersects with ideas of freedom, authority, and responsibility?

I grew up with guns, though not in our home, as a part of my participation in a military equestrian club known as Junior Essex Troop B of Cavalry. Our training included learning how to use and maintain rifles for target practice. We participated in National Rifle Association Marksmanship Qualification programs, and I had the opportunity to participate in marksmanship competitions at West Point and the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. My marksmanship improved over the course of years, as did my respect for the responsibility that comes with the authority of handling firearms.

My concern about the process of the present gun violence debate is not original, and it rests primarily in the close alliance of for-profit gun manufacturers with the non-profit National Rifle Association, and the resultant messaging that flows across our media and the desks of politicians.

What I hear are messages designed to induce fear, loathing, paranoia, and to produce profit.

Recently, an American firearms manufacturer publicly opined that they could not keep up with the demand for their weapons.

I am not expert in the field of gun violence, and I express no opinions about the efficacy of proposed solutions presently being shouted back and forth, with one exception.

After 9/11, I was both comforted and horrified to see the streets of New York City patrolled by members of our Armed Forces, equipped with assault weapons and combat gear. Comforted because I had bought into the narrative that we were somehow unsafe as a nation in a way that could be remedied by having armed soldiers stand in the streets. Along with that comfort, I was horrified at the thought that living amongst armed soldiers standing in the streets could become our new normal. I would not be comforted to know that the schools our children attend are staffed by people carrying firearms, and I don’t think the answer lies in having law enforcement officers in every school. There are new normals to which I do not want to become accustomed, and there are new normals to which I do not want our children to become accustomed.

Freedom is not free, and freedom is neither procured nor protected by paranoia.

With the freedom accorded us by living in this part of the world, I would like to see more emphasis on informing the public, private, and political debate toward a reduction in gun violence by focusing on responsibility and authority. And I would like us to reaffirm and continue our communal effort to become ever more the land of the free.

If you would like to hear more about gun violence please come to services at the Edmonds Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, April 7th at 9:15 or 11am to hear Edmonds Attorney Pamela Van Swearingen speak on "Promoting Peace Through The Reduction of Gun Violence"