You Must Alter Human Nature
FYI (copy below):
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=\Commentary\archive\20030
7%5CCOM20030711a.html
************************************************************
You Must Alter Human Nature
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Commentary
July 11, 2003
The nation's largest gun-control group says it is "dedicated
to creating an America free from gun violence, where all
Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in their
communities."
Whew. For a minute there, I thought no one could create
such an America. But the "Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence united with the Million Mom March" (the group's
official name) apparently believes that all Americans can be
safe, if only we get rid of all those darned guns.
The Brady Bunch, as I prefer to call them, issued a press
release on Wednesday saying that "something needs to be
done" about various people with guns who, this week alone,
"killed people, wounded people, scared people." The press
release lists four crimes committed by people deliberately
misusing guns and one "gun scare."
The murders of five people at a Mississippi factory on
Tuesday prompted the Brady Campaign's press release, of
course. Any time there's a high-profile shooting, the press
releases aren't far behind, because that's how interest
groups raise publicity - and money.
I agree with the Brady Campaign that what happened at the
Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian, Miss., was criminal,
deplorable, and very sad.
But two other things strike me about the shooting. One
involves guns, and the Brady people won't like my thoughts
on that. The other involves thought itself.
Press reports said a man who bravely tried to grab the gun
away from the factory killer was shot through the hand and
lost several fingers as a result of his serious injury. How
much better it would have been if that same man had used
that same hand, not to stop a bullet, but to reach for a gun
of his own.
The best way to stop an armed criminal is with equal or
greater firepower, but sadly, no one in the factory had a
gun. When bad guys run amok, the good guys are defenseless.
Maybe the bad guys would think twice about shooting, if they
knew the good guys were armed, too.
Press reports described the shooter, Doug Williams, as an
angry, racist man. Williams reportedly started shooting his
co-workers minutes after he walked out of a meeting where he
and other factory employees were lectured on the importance
of getting along with co-workers, "regardless of their sex
or race," as the Associated Press put it.
For a man with anger problems and a reported tendency to
mock and threaten blacks, the admonition to "be nice"
appears to have been the breaking point.
To the "can't-we-all-just-get-along" philosophy, Williams
responded with an emphatic and violent "no." He killed five
people and wounded eight others before killing himself
because in the end, he apparently decided that no one was
going to tell him how to think.
Williams' deeds are indefensible. I don't understand how he
could do what he did. But I do understand the futility of
telling people what to think and how to act. Even people
without anger problems get angry about that. All thinking
people chafe at the advent of "political correctness" and
the "nanny state."
Long ago, before Americans grew such thin skins, we were
told to ignore remarks that offended us. Now we wring our
hands at every slight, real or perceived, and we send the
offenders to anger management and counseling sessions that
clearly don't always work.
Human nature covers the gamut of thoughts, emotions,
beliefs, and opinions, and most of them are unpopular with
someone, somewhere.
The only way to change that - the only way to create an
America where everyone is safe - is to change human nature.
The words of poet Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman run
through my head:
Cried all, "Before such things can come,
You idiotic child,
You must alter Human Nature!"
And they all sat back and smiled.
Susan Jones is morning editor for CNSNews.com.
FYI (copy below):
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=\Commentary\archive\20030
7%5CCOM20030711a.html
************************************************************
You Must Alter Human Nature
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Commentary
July 11, 2003
The nation's largest gun-control group says it is "dedicated
to creating an America free from gun violence, where all
Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in their
communities."
Whew. For a minute there, I thought no one could create
such an America. But the "Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence united with the Million Mom March" (the group's
official name) apparently believes that all Americans can be
safe, if only we get rid of all those darned guns.
The Brady Bunch, as I prefer to call them, issued a press
release on Wednesday saying that "something needs to be
done" about various people with guns who, this week alone,
"killed people, wounded people, scared people." The press
release lists four crimes committed by people deliberately
misusing guns and one "gun scare."
The murders of five people at a Mississippi factory on
Tuesday prompted the Brady Campaign's press release, of
course. Any time there's a high-profile shooting, the press
releases aren't far behind, because that's how interest
groups raise publicity - and money.
I agree with the Brady Campaign that what happened at the
Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian, Miss., was criminal,
deplorable, and very sad.
But two other things strike me about the shooting. One
involves guns, and the Brady people won't like my thoughts
on that. The other involves thought itself.
Press reports said a man who bravely tried to grab the gun
away from the factory killer was shot through the hand and
lost several fingers as a result of his serious injury. How
much better it would have been if that same man had used
that same hand, not to stop a bullet, but to reach for a gun
of his own.
The best way to stop an armed criminal is with equal or
greater firepower, but sadly, no one in the factory had a
gun. When bad guys run amok, the good guys are defenseless.
Maybe the bad guys would think twice about shooting, if they
knew the good guys were armed, too.
Press reports described the shooter, Doug Williams, as an
angry, racist man. Williams reportedly started shooting his
co-workers minutes after he walked out of a meeting where he
and other factory employees were lectured on the importance
of getting along with co-workers, "regardless of their sex
or race," as the Associated Press put it.
For a man with anger problems and a reported tendency to
mock and threaten blacks, the admonition to "be nice"
appears to have been the breaking point.
To the "can't-we-all-just-get-along" philosophy, Williams
responded with an emphatic and violent "no." He killed five
people and wounded eight others before killing himself
because in the end, he apparently decided that no one was
going to tell him how to think.
Williams' deeds are indefensible. I don't understand how he
could do what he did. But I do understand the futility of
telling people what to think and how to act. Even people
without anger problems get angry about that. All thinking
people chafe at the advent of "political correctness" and
the "nanny state."
Long ago, before Americans grew such thin skins, we were
told to ignore remarks that offended us. Now we wring our
hands at every slight, real or perceived, and we send the
offenders to anger management and counseling sessions that
clearly don't always work.
Human nature covers the gamut of thoughts, emotions,
beliefs, and opinions, and most of them are unpopular with
someone, somewhere.
The only way to change that - the only way to create an
America where everyone is safe - is to change human nature.
The words of poet Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman run
through my head:
Cried all, "Before such things can come,
You idiotic child,
You must alter Human Nature!"
And they all sat back and smiled.
Susan Jones is morning editor for CNSNews.com.
