So in the last post I started off by discussing the "need" and "want" part of the deal. Now that I've cleared that up, I'll now talk about why guns would be of use to us in the first place for us to want them.
I personally subscribe to the concept of the Trinity, the three categories of general uses of guns. They are listed in order of importance from most to least, and they are: Self Defense, Hunting, and Recreation/Sport/Entertainment/Fun. Yes, if you're not irrationally scared at the inanimate thing that is the gun itself, you can have lots of fun with them, provided you're not pointing at people.
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Self defense is the most important aspect of civilian-owned guns. It is as always a choice of someone to use it, but in the case that he or she does, it will be the foremost use of it. And here is why. I'll address the specific Malaysian aspect of it after I explain the basics.
As it is most obvious from the name, a gun protects someone against crime. While diplomacy is a favored choice and one should always look for a peaceful way out, there is always the (very likely) chance that you will need to use force to keep a criminal, that is, the evil bad guy, from harming you. Sometimes, you have others to protect, like your family. Or you just might have a strong moral principle against giving criminals and thieves anything, be it your money, your property, or even your life.
Why should we take such "drastic" action to protect ourselves? A lot of (ignorant, I say) people will instantly blab and tell you that the police are there to protect you. This is absolutely NOT the case.
First off, its PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to do so all the time. The police can only protect you when they are there, and they are usually not there in the first place, which is the reason why you have to dial 999. For such a thing to work, our population would literally need to be made up of 25% policemen, all working around the clock, watching every house and alley and street.
Then there is the fact that even when they try to come to your aid, its often nowhere near in time. The amount of time it takes for the bad guy to rob, kill, rape, or kidnap
How long does it take for the police to get there? First you have to take out your phone, which will be difficult in a stressful and/or dangerous situation. Then you'll have to dial and call them. Then you have to wait till someone picks up, then you have to tell them where you are and what's going on. (See where this is going?) Then the operator will have to relay everything again to the patrolmen, and THEN they'll have to drive to you. And
By that time, whatever hopped-up and delirious drug addict will have had their way with you. Not a very wise choice to trust your own safety to someone miles away, is it?
The thing is, YOU are the first person who can do anything about the situation. YOU are the one who will decide if you are the victim or the victor. Nobody else can do as much as YOU. Take responsibility for your own safety, and come out of life successful.
And to answer directly the question of "Why a Gun?", it is because it is the ultimate equalizer. One should not ask people to run away as their means of saving themselves, only to forget some people are old or disabled. It allows even scrawniest woman to tell the beefiest man to go away and not rape me, and actually succeed. It is also a powerful way of doing it, and like I have discussed in the previous post, there is absolutely no reason not to use it if it is useful.
And before somebody comes up and says that its better to submit to the criminal, statistics show that people are the LEAST injured when they use firearms to chase away or subdue the criminal. You're more likely to get beaten up if you're a sniveling coward who grovels at their feet, probably because they just get irritated.
Source is the British Home Office and their police force, and they're not exactly pro-gun folk. Go take it up with them if you don't believe me.
Other reasons why the police cannot protect you entirely:
It is not their job. They SOLVE crime. Sure, they'll help STOP the crime in progress, but usually the evil deed has already been done, and the only thing they can do is clean up the mess, and hope to chase down the culprit later. If they fail in coming to rescue you, no one is going to be able to sue them or hold them liable for any "negligence", partly due to police being a part of the government itself (and governments don't like being sued), and partly due to being impossible to enforce in the first place. See above.
Corruption. Some are indeed working to keep the status quo, because without crime, there would be no need of police. Its bad enough that its impossible to protect everyone with this flawed system, to have some of the bad guys working inside.
And finally, this is just a less physical reason that I have learned and taken up from somewhere else. Why do people accept the notion that they should rely on the police alone to protect them? Why does it not click into their minds that they are asking someone else to risk their life to shield them, when they themselves would not think to even lift a finger to defend themselves and their property?
It is a Moral fallacy, one which I do NOT subscribe to. I will ask the police for help, but I will do my own part. I will not ask them to cover entirely for something that is MY responsibility in the first place.
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Now, in the case of the Malaysian scene, firearms are definitely "available". The use of guns is heavily restricted, and who is given a license is also heavily regulated.
Yes, it is dangerous to not regulate such an item to some extent, but the way it is done now is ridiculous and only causes detriment by not allowing the masses to purchase and make use of them.
Right now, whether or not you can acquire a firearms license is based on three things:
Having lots of money.
Having lots of political connections.
Having lots of money AND political connections.
See what this kind of thing will do? You'll mostly need the money to convince the right people. Not a requirement, perhaps, and I truly do not blame any specific person for accepting bribery for this kind of thing, but I will not lie: sometimes it does happen, like in all things. Hopefully it does not play too large a role.
The right connections, knowing the right people, are too a way to swing it into one's favor.
Then there is the fact that they require a "good reason" to give a license. This reason being if you're RICH. Rich, and thus somehow really vulnerable to being robbed, kidnapped, raped, and murdered (for any of the above), as if those things don't happen to the common people all the damn time from all walks of life. As if they didn't have already enough money to hire their own private army to defend their skin for them. As if the commoner is only allowed to use their dirty fists, rather than the high noble who can use more elegant weapons.
By not allowing the common people to possess firearms in a reasonably accessible manner, it defeats the entire purpose of firearms in self defense. The criminals do not obey the law, and they will ALWAYS have guns, while we do not. Remember back in one of the newspaper stories where police went in a shootout with several men, and in the aftermath found a car trunk full of illegal firearms? The criminals can find and use their illegal smuggled guns, but we cannot because are good people and we like to follow the Law. And thus we suffer because the Law isn't nice to us by not letting us have the best means of protecting ourselves.
Don't take me for a "money is the root of all evil" person though, quite the opposite. Its just the way it influences us here gets me riled up. I'll talk more on this once I get through finishing reading the entire document that details the firearms control in this country. This is just the practical gist of it.
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Long blog post, so I guess I'll just wrap up the rest for today. The other two reasons in the Trinity were Hunting and Recreation.
Hunting is not exactly a very applicable thing here in Malaysia. We aren't very big on land, and there's not much to actually hunt. But if we could, why hunt? Hunting is like the third reason, Recreation, but more important because it does bring a benefit.
Food. Nothing like eating a meal you caught and roasted yourself. They say it tastes better because of that.
Why would I catch my own food when I can get it at the store? Because I can, and it just comes along as a possibly enjoyable opportunity after the whole self-defense aspect.
There's also yet again a moral aspect from my personal perspective. Most animals you eat come from a farm, and thanks to the ever increasing population-irresponsible humanity, we tend to need to stuff said animals in really tight farms, stuff them again with food, feed them lots of growth hormones, generally cause a lot of grief to them, just so we can feed the masses. They don't get to run free and enjoy their life without being doomed to die for our stomachs, from the very beginning they were born. Hunting them ensures to me that they were able to live happily, before I put them down as painlessly as possible to be eaten.
That's just me. Its still up to you what to do, and there's the vegetarians of course. Still many other reasons to use guns.
The last one is Recreation. Just like football or archery or what have you, its a sport that can be enjoyed safely by all, provided the simple safety rules are followed, and adults act like adults when supervising children on the range. That last one always gets us pro-gunners boiling when some imbecile foolishly gives a difficult-to-control automatic to a 10 year old kid to "play" with by himself.
In any case, its the last on the list because its not immediately practical. All it does is entertain us, although it may come naturally anyway when you would practice with your defensive gun of choice. There's the Olympics that does have their own light-caliber rifle competitions, but nobody needs a big official event to have fun with friends. There's the IPSC (a practical-situation handgun shooting sport), too. I think they have a small thing going on here in Malaysia, but I need to check sometime. But the best of all is really just spending time with the family (assuming they have time in this rush-fast world), and bonding with the little kid, teaching him or her some life lessons and some responsibility along the way.
Like placing a watermelon on a stool, then blowing it to pieces with one shot.
"Yeah, Ahmad? See that? Don't play around with guns; respect them even if you do not fear them. And please for the sake of
*Sample dialogue may not be representative of what you may think is best to teach the child that all important lesson. Your mileage may vary.
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To finish this, firearms are a useful thing to have. Be it to defend oneself or defend one's stomach, there's something for everyone. Usually that falls under the first of the Trinity, but I think that still counts.
It is still a choice of the person to use one or not. It is still necessary to provide some safeguards to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands, although it is not actually as hard as you think. Many anti-gun laws passed all around the world fail to address the "wrong hands" part, and usually only affect those who would never break the law.
I do not mean to give everyone a gun, as that would be foolish. But that would be ideal, if everyone was smart and responsible enough (not that hard) to be deemed eligible to handle firearms, that is, when they get their license by passing the tests.
The myth of the Wild Wild West is really bad and misleading; they were never "Wild", and in fact were a very peaceful time in their history. With nearly everyone armed, each good person respected one another, and evil criminals had a hard time surviving for very long. That was a very good thing. And those tales and stories of incredible exploits that those criminals do in desperation are just that, incredible one-in-a-million flukes.
Now, why I made this blog again? Because I want to try and get the word out, try to educate people who don't know, or don't have an opinion about this matter. To talk and dispel the myths and fantasies that the anti-gun crowd put out. To try to turn this country's opinion around, so the People can push for our over-restrictive, ineffective gun laws to be reevaluated and changed, for the betterment of our society.
A lot of my concepts are taken from the American side of things, since they are the foremost in this field in the world. Those people... if they didn't have access to firearms, their crime rate would be MUCH higher than it is now. They should thank their lucky stars.
We, however, have much to do. Perhaps, just like our first-world infrastructure, we can exceed the developed world because we are a young nation. We are a clean slate, where we can implement this in the most efficient and properly controlled manner as possible, by starting right off with the best technology available. We give no weapons to the criminals, and arm as many good and responsible citizens who are willing as possible. Then maybe one day we can be rid of crime and tyranny, and we can live free and happy.
I hope that perhaps, you may join my righteous journey and help make this happen someday. We still have the right to free speech, so lets make use of it. Anybody who has a conflicting opinion should also speak up, so that I may address it. Any questions?
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