Tim, characteristically, has written the most reasonable thing I’ve read during today’s Very Special Gun Control Edition of the internet:
[L]iberals and conservatives both confidently assert that the evidence is incontrovertible that gun control {increases, decreases} crime. I havenât studied the data closely enough to have a strong opinion one way or the other, and frankly I suspect most of the other people with opinions on the question donât know what theyâre talking about either. But both sides seem able to marshall at least plausible arguments in their favor, which means that while Iâm not confident of the sign, I am reasonably sure that the magnitude of the harm (or benefit) is small.
And therefore, as a liberal, my general attitude is that in the absence of compelling evidence of harm we should have a bias toward letting people do as they please. Owning a gun may not, on net, improve your safety, but itâs certainly no more dangerous than smoking, drinking, having unprotected sex, or many other activities that people are free to do in the privacy of their own homes. A lot of liberals seem to have a strange blind spot about this; liberals generally have a strong presumption in favor of letting people do as they please in the privacy of their homes, but that seems to get forgotten when the subject is owning guns.
He’s right: I don’t really know what I’m talking about when it comes to guns’ costs and benefits. Nobody seems to, as Megan explained. Everyone’s just got a hunch — a strongly-held hunch.
Thinking about it some more, I’m actually much more bothered by the idea of people buying firearms for self-defense than for sport. I try to put myself in their shoes: why would someone want to buy a gun? If it’s to hunt or shoot or collect, that seems fine. All that NRA bullshit about instilling a culture of respectful, safety-oriented gun ownership isn’t actually bullshit at all. I’ve seen it myself on NRA-funded ranges at Boy Scout camps. People who know guns know what they’re going to do with their guns, and how to do it, and when they start to do it it isn’t hard for them to get it done.
But when someone buys a gun for protection the situation is more speculative. Avoiding crime isn’t really a hobby, per se. So what are they thinking about? I doubt it has anything to do with statistics. It seems much more likely that a buyer has an imagined scenario in mind — possibly vague but definitely present — that justifies the purchase. I’m sure these scenarios vary quite a lot, but if they have one unifying characteristic I’d bet it’s that they’re all completely ridiculous. Maybe I’m being uncharitable, but I imagine these narratives reflect Batman comics more than they do the realities of being scared, surprised or unskilled. This is the fantasy, the tautological trap that makes me view aspiration as disqualification: the idea that in that crucial moment you are likely to somehow be more than a laughable hairless ape — that somehow it will be helpful to add lethality to a moment of bewilderment — betrays a foolishness that shouldn’t be trusted with a firearm.
In the abstract I don’t begrudge anyone the right to defend themselves. But the experience in that adrenaline-filled moment is so alien and disorienting that it’s a bit hard to take very seriously the cool-headed explication of an aspiring gun owner’s anti-crime calculus. Of the fortunately few times when I’ve felt my life was in danger, the truth uniting the experiences has been that they’ve been nothing like I imagined. Plans would have been hilariously irrelevant.
Besides, to carry a gun for protection from crime means you’ll need to have that device on or near you a lot of the time. You, the girl who spills tampons all over her shoes whenever she roots through her purse. You, the guy who can’t stop dropping his cellphone in the toilet. I know you. You tivo Grey’s Anatomy, for god’s sake. I’m somehow supposed to be happy that your latest personal effect can kill me?
Of course, I don’t mean to say I don’t trust you. If you’re reading this the odds that you’re a friend or loved one are high. But y’know, I was standing only a few feet from a friend-or-loved-one when she accidentally discharged a firearm. This was a smart person! One whom I respect! Somebody that I would gladly hire to do any number of things requiring brains and responsibility and minimal bloodlust. But, y’know, whoops. It was really fucking scary, and I would rather not face that possibility on a daily basis and a city-wide scale. It seems like a bad idea.
Still, Tim’s right. Philosophically, I can’t reconcile this unscientific uneasiness with what I believe about others’ rights. But I also can’t help wondering if those seeking safety couldn’t just try to forget about the inevitably-cited unstoppable PCP-fueled edge case, and instead invest in some pepper spray or a stun gun. Or a whistle. It seems like we might all be better off. But then, that’s just another hunch.
Photo by Flickr user Shermeee