The Great Mace Movement of 2014

   The Great Mace Movement of 2014. America had just emerged from a lively debate on guns, what with the Sandy Hook mass shooting and the Trayvon Martin shooting.
   Guns, guns, guns -- that was all the talk. And, these folks turned the conversation to mace, mace, mace (and rubber bullets and other such non-lethal weapons).
   Their idea was that, sure they wanted to defend themselves. But, no, they did not want to kill the other person, even if the other person were intent on killing them. As long as they could stop the other party, that's all they wanted.
   It was kind of an approach that echoes down from the New Testament, albeit many in the Mace Movement were not even Christians. In the New Testament, it says, with the Savior being the one who is doing the speaking:
   "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil. But whosoever shall smite thee on the thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
   That is not to say the Mace Movement folks were willing to forfeit their lives. They weren't going to say, "Okay, you've shot me once, now shoot me again." No, but they did want to return good for evil. They did want to say, "Okay, you've shot me. But, if I can get out of this without killing you, I'd like to spare your life."
   There's a thread that runs through the Guns Right Movement, or through some of the people in it. Now, the Guns Right Movement was a movement that preceded the Great Mace Movement, and many of those in it were literally an-eye-for-an-eye type of people. They believed that if someone was trying to take your life, you should take theirs. They passed laws in a number of their states, called Stand Your Ground laws, that spelled out that deadly force could be answered with deadly force. Deadly force with deadly force. An eye for an eye. Get it?
   Now, there are times when that's what it takes. Sometimes, if a person is to save their own life, they have to take the life of the attacker. The Mace Movementers, though, wanted to take other options, whenever they could.
   So, they all went out and bought mace, tons of it. They bought so much mace, new mace manufacturers sprung up just to handle them. And, there were so many different mace products -- of course including mace shot from guns so you could reach the criminal from a distance -- that you couldn't shake a stick at them all.
   For many of these Mace Movement folks, it was a matter of self defense. If a can of mace would stop the criminal just as good as a gun, that's what they wanted. For others, it was simply a way of making a statement: that guns were not the only answer, that if life could be preserved, it should.
   I've always looked back on the Great Mace Movement of 2014 as one of the finest moments in humanity's history. Here was a time when people said no to killing, a time when they took up the Savior's challenge of turning the other cheek, a time when they said life was too precious -- even if it were the life of an enemy -- to be taking it if there were other options.
   These folks looked down the barrel of a gun, and answered with a can of mace.