The Glorification of Guns Comes with a Price

The Second Amendment is not a license to kill. When I say that, I say it not to the by-and-large peaceful millions of gun owners, but to the slim number who occasionally come up with the idea of taking their weapons to Washington and straightening the politicians out.

And, more than to them, I speak to those who use guns in more traditional acts of violence. I cannot help but wonder how many of them are big Second Amendment fans. I think of the news story I read this morning about the man who took off all his clothes while at a nude art exhibit. Yes, of the 65,000 people who had seen the exhibit, he was the only one who stripped.

But, even so it is with guns. It is not whether the majority turn to violence because they own guns, but it is whether even a fair share of those who do commit violence came there by way of the love of guns that we engender in our society.

It would be an interesting study, to go to the prisons and try to determine what prompted the inmates to buy the guns in the first place, including how many bought them for self-defense.  

This is not an argument for the regulation of weapons, but an argument against our glorification of guns. It is an argument against teaching each other that everyone should go out and buy a Colt and carry it around with them.