Posted on 04/22/2012 11:13:15 PM PDT by Mier
The Gun Is Civilization THIS IS THE BEST WORDED PRO-GUN ARGUMENT THAT I HAVE EVER READ. And, from a Marine! ! ! ! As the Supreme Court hears arguments for and against the Chicago, IL, Gun Ban, I offer you another stellar example of a letter (written by a Marine), that places the proper perspective on what a gun means to a civilized society. Interesting take and one you don't hear much... Read this eloquent and profound letter and pay close attention to the last paragraph of the letter..... "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 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 would not 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 Icannot 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 !!
By Maj. Caudill USMC (Ret.)
So the greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced !!
This is worth printing and sharing with others.......right?
Remember freedom is not free.
God created man. Sam Colt made them equal...
Too True.
I waited longer than I should have, but now, all my kids have firearms and know how to use them.
Mohandas Gandhi
bump
Correct author here...
http://munchkinwrangler.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/why-the-gun-is-civilization/
Re Previous by author..(my blog)
A while ago, I posted a little essay called “Why the Gun is Civilization“. It was pretty well received, and got me a lot of positive comments from a variety of people. Some folks asked for permission to reprint and publish the essay in various newsletters and webzines, and I gladly granted it every time, only asking for attribution in return.
Recently, I have noticed my essay pop up on the Internet a lot in various forums, most of which I do not frequent. This in itself causes me no grief, but the reposts are almost invariably attributed to someone who is not me. Some are attributed to a Major L.Caudill, USMC (Ret.), and some are merely marked as “forwarded” by the same person. Others are not attributed at all, giving the impression that the person who posted the essay is also its author.
In school, we call reproduction without attribution “plagiarism“. It’s usually cause for a failing grade or even expulsion in most college codes of conduct. In the publishing world, we call the same thing “intellectual property theft”.
*****
Note: have had this piece on my sites on-n-off for years—keeps disappearing a reappearing eventually w/new URL...???
-GyG
***
In the immortal words of Heinlein...”A armed society is a polite society”...
ping
Thanks for letting us know that you’re the author of that piece. I was just about to send this out in email. I’ve done so now, with proper attribution.
WHHAAAT!!!
No, I am most certainly NOT the author of that piece!
Please read it again SLOOWWWLY—I am the poster of the info—
Don;t reward the messenger!
;)
Gunny G
aka: Dick Gaines
^^^^^
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