Great comment from Stephen M. St. Onge:<\/p>\n
Thinking about the never ending gun control arguments, I had a possibly original idea:
\nCarrying\/not carrying a gun is controversial because of the message it sends, not because of the effects of the guns themselves.
\nGuns are tools for doing harm to people, but outside of video fantasies, someone carrying a firearm is highly unlikely to use it during any given day — or year. What makes the gun so controversial is that the gun carrier is sending a message: ‘I think we live in a violent world, where we might be attacked at any time, and if it happens, I’m going to deal out some violence too.<\/I><\/b>‘
\nThe principled non-carrier is also sending a message: ‘I think we may live in a society where violence could occur at any moment, but I refuse to be part of the culture of violence. By refusing in advance to prepare for violence, I will help stamp it out.<\/I><\/b>‘
\nIn short, one says “I’m dangerous, watch out for me,”, the other “Give peace a chance.” What’s really at stake is a question of how people ought to live.
\nNo wonder the issue is so highly charged!<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI wildly disagree with him, but believe that he has neatly encapsulated the gap between the sides.
\nI\u0092ll characterize it differently. One side is dealing with the world as they wish it were, and the other with the world as they are afraid it is.
\nLook, I like to eat, and spend a decent amount of time in East and South-Central L.A. making my taste buds happy. Many of my Westside and beach-community friends are horrified at this idea. They are convinced that if they drive to The Pit or King Taco #1, they’ll be robbed or worse. The reality is that I\u0092m at greater risk from the fat in the ribs and the lard in the beans than I am from being attacked while I’m there eating.
\nHaving said that, I exercise and eat thegood<\/s> bad stuff in moderation, so that I can manage the risk<\/I><\/b>.
\nPossessing some skills and tools to defend yourself is also a part of managing one\u0092s risk<\/I><\/b>.
\nI\u0092d like to live in a world where I could eat burnt ends two meals a day without effect. I don\u0092t\u0085
\nLots of other sensible and less-sensible comments; as time permits today, I\u0092ll promote them and respond.
\nOh, and I had a great trip, thanks for asking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Great comment from Stephen M. St. Onge: Thinking about the never ending gun control arguments, I had a possibly original idea: Carrying\/not carrying a gun is controversial because of the message it sends, not because of the effects of the guns themselves. Guns are tools for doing harm to people, but outside of video fantasies, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}