Value of Laws ~ An overdue rant about guns.
You’re welcome.
After the school shootings, and prior to the Trayvon Martin case, there was a lot of noise about gun control laws – why we need ‘em, why we don’t. Who the laws should be geared toward. Who should be exempt. All kinds of arguing and back-n-forth.
With the most recent case of gun-gone-wild, the conversation has changed. It’s moved away from gun control and on to race. But I’m not ready to drop one topic for the other.
I talked about race last week {see my post “Race Camp”}, but this week I want to hit rewind and talk about gun control. Or, more specifically, the value of laws.
The Value of Laws: It’s not what you think.
Here’s the thing. We don’t make laws to outright stop people from taking certain actions.
It would be naive to think that merely ordering someone to behave would fix everything. Yes, making laws might deter those who are on the fence, or those who are afraid of breaking rules and regulations, from making unwise decisions.
But to claim as a reason AGAINST gun control laws, “The bad guys are going to break the laws anyway,” is silly.
Why have ANY laws, if we are only making them with the thought that the mere stating of such will stop bad guys from being… well, BAD?
What is the value of laws if we don’t make them to stop law-breaking?
We make laws so that it’s written on paper, in black and white, that if you take certain actions, there will be repercussions, and that you will be held accountable for your wrong-doing.
We make laws so that there is an “or else.” To tell someone, “Don’t do that!” isn’t enough. People need to understand WHY they shouldn’t do something. And simply coming back with the standard, “Cuz I said so, that’s why!” ain’t gonna cut it for the doo-doo brains walking our planet.
The value of laws has absolutely NOTHING to do with morals.
It’s absolutely true that morals and decent values should be enough to keep people from pillaging and raping and whatnot.
But the fact of the matter is, morals and values haven’t been enough since before the time of Jesus.
I mean, HELLO — that’s why God had people write that shit down, according to Christian tradition.
If the Christian God could depend upon people refraining from being dangerous a-holes, he wouldn’t have needed Commandments and prophets and Jesus and apples and all that other Bible-ish stuff.
The value of laws lies in the principle of “or else”.
We make laws about rape. “Don’t rape people!” we say, and we mean it. Most of us (the normal ones who aren’t screwed up in the head) agree that this is a good plan. Rape = Bad and Wrong. Got it. The good guys don’t even need that shit written down. We understand that rapists are a-holes.
Making the law — spelling it out in print — doesn’t make the ones who ARE screwed up in the head STOP raping people. They just keep right on.
So we need the “or else,” the statement which our society has agreed upon that indicates rape is maybe not such a good idea, and what punishment comes with breaking that law.
Rapists do not have to keep their fingers crossed that one day we’ll get tired of their naughty ways and just throw in the towel. I mean, can you even imagine us crying out that, since rape keeps happening anyway, we might as well take the law off the books?
“You know what? Just fuck it. Those rapists are going to keep on raping, so why bother making laws against it?”
…we’ll never, ever ask.
I wish we didn’t have to say things like,
“Hey, you guys! Maybe killing people isn’t cool, if you know what I mean? So, like, can we STOP with the murder and mayhem?”
I wish people intrinsically understood that stabbing a motherfucker is SO not right, or that gassing them in chambers is unspeakably awful, or shooting an innocent kid is unacceptable. I wish people “got it.”
The value of laws lies in social, not individual, pacts.
Sadly, we cannot depend on anyone to just KNOW the things each of us knows. We have to write this shit down so there is no assumption that killing someone is okay (except in the case of self-defense and maybe other extenuating circumstances; I’m obviously not a litigator so WTF do I know about this stuff?).
{{{And of course, now we know that even in certain cases you can start a fight, finish the fight with shots fired, and walk away from the fight completely free of legal ramifications.}}}
We can’t just take it for granted that we’re all on the same page. We make laws so that we KNOW we’re on the same page.
You raped someone? Easy peasy, you’re a rotten douche and you’re going to jail. NEXT.
You were driving while intoxicated? Simple, you shall now serve time, ass-hat. NEXT.
You killed someone over a pair of fucking SHOES? Srsly? Right, you are so busted. NEXT.
You brought a gun to school? Do not pass go, get your ass to juvie. NEXT.
You are officially a loon and tried to purchase a gun? No go, friend. Not gonna happen. NEXT.
I hope you’re getting this.
It’s not rocket science. If you want to live in a lawless society, you kind of missed that boat. We don’t have that sort of lifestyle here in the good ol’ US of A.
{{{Unless your last name starts with a “Z”}}}
We like to boss each other around and get in each other’s business. I mean, look at it this way:
You are extremely concerned with the state of my vagina (who and what may enter it, who or what may come out of it, and its general upkeep and maintenance). It seems only right that I am AT LEAST as concerned with a tool for death as you are about my hole for life.
But I digress. We aren’t talking about women’s rights here.
That’s another post altogether, one I’ve addressed in the past and one which I’m sure I’ll touch on again in the future.
For now, let us merely consider the idiocy of arguing that gun laws are stupid. Because:
If gun laws are stupid, then so are all the other laws.
And it’s all those other laws which allow us to live together in some semblance of peace — a peace which is rapidly coming under fire.
The value of laws lies in social acceptance of safety parameters.
Consider life without laws:
- You can’t call 911 when your aged parents suffer a heart attack, or when your silly little monkey falls off the jungle gym and breaks an arm.
- You can’t call the fire station to come put out the flames caused by your stupid-ass neighbor who was smoking in bed and fell asleep with a lit cigarette.
- You can’t go to the grocery to shop for food and staples because there is no organized currency.
- You can’t drive your car because international trade has halted and your vehicle won’t run, but it doesn’t matter because the roads haven’t been tended to and are all grown over.
- You can’t keep your diabetic relative alive for more than, say, a week, tops.
- Hope you aren’t having a baby, because there is no phone service and anyway medical care is now a thing of the past.
Depressed?
Get over it because life without laws means YOU. ARE. FUCKED.
I’ve heard some of the anti-government weirdos and libertarian fence-sitters shouting about how much better off we’d be under the state of Anarchy, but… I’m just not seeing it.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
You guys are all worrying over the wrong laws. Stop getting mad that we want to restrict who can purchase guns, and instead get pissed at all the jack-wagons giving your gun-party a bad name. Go after THEM. Teach them proper care and use of guns. Regulate the shit out of them so the rest of us don’t have to.
But what’s that you say? You have better things to do with your time? Riiiiiight. Then, if you’re a gun-toting gun-owner, don’t get pissed that the government is stepping in to clean up your mess.
PS. I like guns.
I served in the US Army and fired a weapon and thought it was pretty fucking cool. And while I don’t own one, it’s only cuz I haven’t run out to purchase one yet. I’m waiting for the apocalypse to hit so I can be all last-minute as usual.
PPS. I could never shoot a deer. Just sayin’.
PPPS. I could totally shoot the holy hell out of a raccoon. Those beasts are horrid, disgusting little a-holes.
What do YOU think of the value of laws?
Necessary, or a bunch of BS? What’s YOUR take on the gun sitch, either pre-Zimmerman versus post-Zimmerman?