Some thoughts for inclusion in briefs in Parker v. DC.
(1) http://www.willisms.com/archives/2007/07/handgun_ownersh.html
(2)
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/07/the_second_amen_1.html
(3) WHY THE GUN IS CIVILIZATION
*By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret) *
*Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason
and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a
choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your
bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into
one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force,
that's it. *
*In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively
interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method
of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from
the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to
some.*
*When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to
use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate
your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal
weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a
220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a
19-year old gang banger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with
a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the
disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a
potential attacker and a defender. *
*There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of
bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be
more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a
firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That,
of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly
disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no
validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed. People
who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the
young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a
civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a
successful living in a society where the state has granted him a
force monopoly. *
*Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal
that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is
fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations
are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming
injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or
stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where
people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst.
The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in
favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both
are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that's as
lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a
weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer
if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable. *
*When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a
fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side
means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it
because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It
doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me
through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force.
It removes force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun
is a civilized act*
**
Professor Joseph Olson, J.D., LL.M. o- 651-523-2142
Hamline University School of Law f- 651-523-2236
St. Paul, MN 55113-1235 c- 612-865-7956
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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