Six Thoughts on Guns and Freedom

Huffington Post

2. Protection


Notably, the percentage of Americans who say they own a gun for protection has risen precipitously at the same time that crime has fallen dramatically. For this reason, it is difficult to make the argument that the perceived need for "protection" is based in reality, on actual probabilities of meaningful threat. Instead, we must wonder whether the urge to own a gun for personal security rests more on a different, less concrete understanding of what constitutes a threat, and how best to handle that threat, whether it is imagined or real.

Guns give people the fantasy of control, not the reality of control, so to understand the firearms ownership obsession, we need to appreciate what fantasies are at work. For example, there is a significant fear among whites of black youths. But most violence involving young black males is seemingly geographically specific, committed against other black males, who more than likely know each other personally. This reality removes any reasonable argument for stand-your-ground laws, concealed weapons laws, open carry laws, and let's-allow-guns-in-schools-parks-churches-and-bars laws.