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  • Subject: The Gun Is Civilization
Subject: The Gun Is Civilization
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PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE.

The Gun Is Civilization

By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force.

If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single -blam!- guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed.People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force.

It removes force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.


TL;DR: Guns put everyone on an equal footing, and if people are allowed to have concealed weapons, people will think twice about committing crimes if the chances of their victims of having a gun are high.

  • 12.14.2012 5:39 PM PDT

Lt. Dan I brought you some ice cream. Lt. Dan.. ice creaaam!

I let out a big ass sigh.

  • 12.14.2012 5:40 PM PDT
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Yup.

I'm sure most people have read this already, but agree nonetheless.

  • 12.14.2012 5:40 PM PDT
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Steam - slamt4stic
Live - SLAMt4stic

Garland posted this earlier.

  • 12.14.2012 5:42 PM PDT

MEDIC!

"Don't take your guns to town son,
Leave your guns at home Bill."

  • 12.14.2012 5:44 PM PDT

Life?
I have the internet and Doctor Who; i don't need a life.

nice copy/paste

this will ONLY work if everyone is holding their gun ready to be shot all the time.
it's impractical and ridiculous to implement in practice; it won't work.

  • 12.14.2012 5:45 PM PDT
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They call me graland.

Posted by: chronicaddict420
Garland posted this earlier.
I've been posting this for years, and people were posting it before I was.

  • 12.14.2012 5:46 PM PDT
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PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE.


Posted by: chronicaddict420
Garland posted this earlier.


Because you know, I'm on the internet 24/7 and see every post that comes through the flood. I don't give a -blam!- if it's been posted before, it's important.

  • 12.14.2012 5:47 PM PDT

Since this from someone in the military, I find it t b too biased to even be considered in this ongoing argument.

  • 12.14.2012 5:48 PM PDT
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PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE. PRYING OPEN MY THIRD EYE.


Posted by: Slayer1878
Since this from someone in the military, I find it t b too biased to even be considered in this ongoing argument.


The military isn't even mentioned in it. I think you're just coming up with excuses to dismiss the entire argument.

  • 12.14.2012 5:50 PM PDT
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They call me graland.

Posted by: Slayer1878
Since this from someone in the military, I find it t b too biased to even be considered in this ongoing argument.
I could say your anti-gun bias is too strong to be considered in this argument, too.

  • 12.14.2012 5:56 PM PDT