The Reality of Guns and Young Adults
Happy Memorial Day 🇺🇸
Memorial Day is a top 5 holiday for me. The sheer courage that so many men and women have displayed for our country is incredible, and it’s the only reason I can sit in a coffee shop and type some thoughts. Not to mention, Memorial Day introduces the start of summer, when America is so exciting. The landscape of this country is the best in the world, and it’s a privilege to embrace it year after year.
This year, Memorial Day comes at a crossroads. The foundation of this country would not be possible without the main topic of what we’re going to examine today. In fact, it is so essential that the Continental Congress decided to make it the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution. Even if there are some dissenting viewpoints below, that is what makes this country so great. The fact that the 1st Amendment allows us to vehemently discuss the 2nd is no coincidence.
Without further ado…
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A good thing about a newsletter is that you can write about whatever you want. Even though I write about specific subjects, there is always room for spontaneous writing. Unfortunately, anytime I’ve pivoted off of an issue, the new matter at hand is a controversial topic. The last time I did this was the U.S. Capitol insurrection in January of 2021 - today, we face another school shooting… Nineteen elementary school kids were killed.
I recognize there are good and bad elements to emotional writing. The bad? You fail to see the logic - mainly if the matter directly affects you. According to Psychology Today, 80% of our decisions are by emotion, yet most people believe they make decisions based on logic. The truth is, when it’s time to make a decision, logic isn’t as straightforward as emotion. The thought of how a cookie will affect your health is nonexistent when one is right in front of you.
The only thing that allows perspective on a decision is time. The example I use is this: If I were to slap you in the face right now and then ask you to describe me, your immediate reaction would include profanity-laced insults mixed with an urge to fight back; whereas if I were to ask you how you felt later that night, those immediate angry emotions might still be there, but you could less violently articulate why.
The only thing that transpired was time.
The immediate emotional responses are the attention-getters; they demand change. But change happens over time when you can combine logic and emotion. I try my best in this post to articulate what problems we need to fix logically, but make no mistake about it. I am emotionally exhausted from turning on the news to see “*x* number of people killed in *insert place* shooting.” Emotional writing is the foundation of movements, and it will also catapult this movement.
There are two constants of mass shootings: humans and guns. Humanity’s relationship with guns is the most complicated it has ever been; meanwhile, humanity’s role in society is the most complicated that it’s ever been. This is not a coincidence.
Guns
You’ve been spoon-fed the same rhetoric after every mass shooting. You’ve seen all the stats, the countries that don’t deal with this, the families of the victims pleading for change, and the vigils for the victims. Rinse and repeat.
If none of that sparks any response from you, then there is no need to read any further. Enjoy your day. On the other hand, if you’re exhausted from going through the sad social media condolences every other week, let’s start with the simple logic of where gun control stands in America. Here are some stats from the latest Pew Research Center survey:
48% of Americans say that gun violence is a very big problem, and 24% say it is a moderately big problem.
About 80% of Black Americans say gun violence is a very big problem. Then 58% of Hispanics agree, and 39% of Whites agree.
53% of Americans favor stricter gun law
80% of Americans agree on background checks for all gun sales.
Urban dwellers support a ban on assault weapons, while rural citizens do not.
63% of all gun owners say the reason they own a gun is for personal protection.
Are any of these stats shocking? Rationally speaking, no. Like all other social issues, there is no consensus; thus, nothing happens. Even if the logical solution is to call for more strict gun legislation, it’s not that simple. It never is.
History of Guns (+ Humans)
The relationship between humans and guns began in the 1300s when guns were integrated into society. Since the inception of the firearm, there are two scenarios in which humans use guns: military use and - what I’ll call - personal use.
In military use, you are assigned a rank, given a high-powered assault weapon, and given orders on how to perform your role with that weapon. Most of the time that consists of killing the enemy in front of you. Firearms made warfare extremely deadly but also very decisive. As if we needed a reminder, the capabilities of guns are on full display in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Modern warfare is no longer tactical, but it is about how many machines of mass destruction you have at your disposal.
Modern weaponry made warfare seem to have no rhyme or reason. The Vietnam War was the first war that benefited from an increasingly progressive society. War protestors used mass media coverage to demand the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam, which was largely successful. The world is using the same method to demand peace from Russia.
The calls for world peace begin when the world can see how gruesome war is. When you watch the capabilities of a human being holding a machine gun, any human with a soul is going to be significantly disturbed. As we have advanced in warfare, so has the advocacy of resolving disputes by any other means.
Then, there is personal use of a firearm, which is owning a gun at your disposal for whatever reason. When America was established, we began to see muskets and handguns become highly functional. Almost overnight, hand-to-hand combat is now distanced combat - which was good for warfare but equally as beneficial for personal use like hunting your food. Since we could hunt and kill more food, it allowed people to spend time elsewhere. Guns were an outstanding development for human sustainability, as you could more easily stay in one location.
Like any radical invention, the next step was to produce more. Ford didn’t invent the Model T and then disbanded the production of cars after a few successful years. The vitality of a gun in that time is synonymous with a car today. George Washington established the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, to produce rifles for Continental Army soldiers. When the Revolutionary War was over, they continued to make firearms for the general public. All major towns would feature a gunsmith selling all sorts of firearms, and people would own them like you would own a car today.
All of a sudden, the 20th Century arrives. The horrors of World War I & II were made possible by the advancements in weaponry with automatic machine guns - which have since remained available to the general public. I find this strange because, on the personal side, owning a gun is becoming increasingly nonessential to life. Unless you were in rural America at this time, guns have not been a necessary means to survive for over a century.
Still, man has retained control over assault weapons. The primary purpose for these guns today is simply big game hunting. One doesn’t have to come within a football field of an animal to conquer it. It’s during the 20th Century, and still, today, that we see many animals become endangered and some extinct forever. As we advanced the power of guns, we’ve increased the power to eliminate life from Earth. It enabled humans to conquer man and beast alike.
2022’s Relationship with Guns (+ Humans)
Unlike the 1700s, when guns helped sustain human life, what do you need a gun for in 2022? The answer is always self-defense. The truth is, 99.99% of the time you use a gun is for something other than aiming it at another human being. I hope and pray the .01% occasion that you need a gun for self-defense never presents itself. Still, it’s just that, a very remote possibility.
When something loses its purpose over time, it typically fades from society altogether. Take a compass, for instance. For thousands of years, a compass was relevant. A compass would navigate your way across oceans, allowing settlers to make maps, guiding you to landmarks, and getting you home after a long day of surveying land. I would compare the compass to the cell phone today; that’s how vital it was.
Have you ever used a compass? I never have and don’t see myself using one soon. If you ask the same question to my generation about guns, I will bet most people don’t own a gun, and most have only shot one a few times.
Yet, guns are everywhere. Why has a gun stayed so relevant beyond its initial purpose?
Guns represent a status symbol of power and are arguably the most “cool” symbol of power. All forms of pop culture make it cool to own a gun. So many movies, TV, and even music videos will feature the main character with a gun (Ironically, most of the time, the character is trying to save the world from destruction). Instead of being propped up, we should actively demote guns as a cool symbol of power.
You’re perfectly capable of defending yourself with a pistol, so I can’t help but think it’s the cool feeling of power that keeps assault rifles in American homes because it serves no other purpose. For this reason, I do not support personal ownership of any military-style assault weapons. I cannot justify owning anything more than a bare minimum firearm. Suppose the gun can fire several rounds per minute. In that case, there is zero use for anyone to hold that unless you’re wearing a uniform that says United States Military.
Now, in taking that stance, I understand America has tried plenty of times to ban objects from society based on morality. The most significant example was the prohibition of alcohol when Congress enacted the 18th Amendment. Do you know what resulted from it? The 21st Amendment ratified the 18th Amendment and ended the prohibition of alcohol. This proves that just because the government said you couldn’t have it doesn’t eliminate it from society. Prohibition birthed speakeasies all over the map as a way to continue the sale of alcohol. The same will happen with assault weapons, as it will always be possible to obtain these weapons of mass destruction.
But do you know what the 18th Amendment taught us? It’s okay to try. Overall, it doesn’t hurt to ban assault weapons and just see if it helps. Our most recent assault weapon ban from 1994 to 2004 certainly didn’t increase mass shootings yearly, and we know they have only increased since. If a ban doesn’t work, then at least you know.
One argument pro-gun individuals use on the ban of assault weapons is that any gun could create a mass casualty event. While true, does the same logic not apply to the idea of self-defense? By those standards, a revolver is no different than an AR-15 in self-defense. We know that is not true, or you wouldn’t have an assault rifle.
Contrary to everything I have said, I would prefer to have a gun in the house when it comes time to raise a family. This post isn’t a personal attack on gun owners amid crazy mass shootings. I empathize with gun advocates because I feel like they are unfairly victimized. Again, gun owners want the assurance of self-defense; they aren’t happy to see elementary school kids slaughtered. But, at the end of the day, our remote chance of self-defense doesn’t trump the tragedy that 274 mass shootings have created since 2009.
The original 10 Constitutional Amendments, or the Bill of Rights, are about your individual freedoms. The framers of the Constitution would have never dreamed what modern weaponry would be capable of. At the Constitution’s inception, the United States was a second-rate country with a tiny army and navy. War was abundant, and the founding fathers knew that many would still target our land - especially the foreign nations still inhabiting it. Overall, the authors of the Constitution entrusted “we the people” to better understand the goal of a more balanced union. Today, we haven’t faced the threat of domestic war in decades. The greatest threat to our safety is some messed-up kid with an assault weapon.
For that reason, we can’t ban guns, but we must regulate what you, as a non-combatant civilian, can possess. It’s not an indictment of your individual freedom, but it’s an attempt to preserve human life.
Humans
Today’s kids grow up in the most disgusting environment in human history. And it is not changing. The internet is one of the greatest inventions ever (with a gun up there, too). Still, it could also destroy society as we know it - that’s how powerful it is. The disgusting amount of content that any aged kid can access is abhorrent. Actually, it’s dehumanizing. I spent hours of my teenage years staring at a screen, and the majority of that screen time looking at things I had no clue was slowly breaking my soul. It has taken me years to reverse my desensitized mind of violence, sex, online harassment, meaningless pop culture, video games, and so much more garbage content. If it happened to me, it certainly could happen to kids much more vulnerable than I am.
I lead with that because we rarely talk about a 60-year-old mass shooter. The shooters are usually young adult males, which is scary because I am also a young adult male. I know the dark side of life these monsters have spent formative years encountering online. Actually, I think we’ve all seen the chaos the internet brings, and if we’re being honest with ourselves, we love it. The conflict is why people keep scrolling on social media. We’re obsessed with it.
Do you think schools have changed in the last 100 years? No, they haven’t. The internet is the only development that coincides with the rise in mass shootings. It has allowed anyone to impact society forever, and mass shooters know this all too well.
So where do we go? How do we look to solve this humanitarian crisis we have of the increasing maniacs living amongst us in society?
#1 The American family must step up
Before I indict the American family here, I want to say that I think anyone who has the means to raise a child in a suitable environment should be doing so. That means providing them food, water, and shelter in a necessary means while not sacrificing nurture for the child. A huge problem we see is those who can’t provide these resources to a child yet still decide to have a child. But, even if you can give this, that doesn’t always mean you are ready to do so.
Throughout human history, the call for man and woman has been to come together, reproduce, and grow the human population. Families and their communities always needed more people to reach a level of sustainability. Thus, having a large family was the status quo.
Now, we face the circumstances of a declining population. Today, families are opting to have fewer kids - as indicated by the graph below - and that is okay. Honestly, there is no difference between having ten kids with the primary purpose of helping on the family farm and having only two because you and your spouse work an office job.
The problem lies within one’s heart for having a child. One can argue it was selfish for the 1900s man and woman to have a large family for the sole purpose of helping on the land. However, there is still a purpose for the child in the family or the community. Children grow up with less purpose in society today; thus, the onus is greater on parents to foster a sense of meaning for a child. It’s the first time our world doesn’t necessarily need more people, so deciding to have a child is more of a discussion.
That’s why I can’t help but think we’re at the age of having children to simply check a box.
“Ugh, my wife is getting into her thirties, so we should probably have a kid now, but my career is about to take off, which a child might inhibit that, and then we have to have at least two so they can entertain themselves because I don’t want them to constantly bother me all the time.”
Is having a child simply a formality? In other words, are we just following the model of getting married and having kids because it has always been that way? I wonder how many spouses have the heart to have children. Just like adults, kids need a purpose, too, and not many purpose-driven lives begin with, “Let’s just have a kid.”
By the grace of God, I hope to one day be able to father children and lead a family with everything I have. Thankfully, it’s all I know from my upbringing. That makes what I’m about to say challenging because I am not raising a family at the moment, but it’s too blatantly obvious.
There are way too many selfish parents in our society raising kids. Parents who have never truly submitted to their families because they only care about themself. Parents who let their kids control the household and don’t really care as long as they live a nice rich lifestyle. This is breaking future generations. Kids have no clue what any sort of direction is because they have never seen it from their self-centered parents. They just exist in a 5,000-square-foot house to play video games, and begrudging do a few algebra problems.
Selfish parents are no different from a dad who gets up and walks out the door on a pregnant mother. At least a kid growing up in a single household will see a parent doing everything they can to help them survive. Kids with selfish parents see that everything is about them.
It is entirely okay if you feel ill-equipped to raise a child. If you’re not ready to raise a family and give 100% to it, then don’t. That is the stage of life that I am in right now. I’m 25 and still have a lot of learning and maturing to do before I feel like I will be ready to raise a child. Additionally, that means submitting wholeheartedly to a woman to have the child with. Families fall apart when they don’t submit to one another.
Therefore, lazy parents who are not entirely submitting their hearts to a child are producing a generation of lonely, isolated kids. This isolation includes succumbing to soul-sucking activities, mainly on the internet. When you become detached from humanity, you lose a sense of reality and what is right and wrong.
I’m glad you’ve worked hard to have that second house, but the “unappreciative” kid upstairs has no real clue what the meaning of it all is.
(I chose not to expand into the parent who abandons a family. Fortunately, I believe most of my readers will not ever walk out on a child. But abandoning a child is one of the single most egregious things that can happen to an individual. It goes without saying, but it largely contributes to behavioral issues in every generation.)
#2 A teacher’s burden is only going to grow heavier
If you know a teacher, please encourage them soon. God love ’em because they are under absolute assault right now. Not only is the curriculum undergoing tense changes, but the kids have evolved at the most rapid pace we have ever seen. On top of that, deranged people have consistently targeted their place of work as a murder zone.
If the American family isn’t going to step up, then next in line is the teacher every kid will encounter. Teachers are fundamental to society because education is the barometer of successful societies. The problem is that it is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach.
In reality, success in formal education is not indicative of success in your future work. Especially today, there are so many unique jobs society needs to operate well, and most of these are made possible by the internet (the internet isn’t all bad).
Formal education is about seeing which individuals can function well in a structured environment. Clearly, some individuals cannot accomplish this - that is okay. Honestly speaking, I wasn’t the best in a formal education setting.
The solution is to have better systems in place to allow underperforming children to succeed in an environment unique to them instead of isolating them as failures. Teachers should begin to implore a personalized environment for each student instead of trying to fit a round peg into a square hole repeatedly. To accomplish this, teachers must be equipped with more psychological skills to help a particular child succeed.
Yes, the education aspect is still important, but we can’t pretend like it is the determining factor of success. Allowing more students to flourish outside of the “Top 10%” should be the primary goal of education.
#3 We must instruct future generations on the internet right now
Kids grow up not knowing the capabilities of the internet because no one ever teaches it to them. I’m pretty well educated in technology, but I would still struggle to effectively convey how the internet works. Most teachers would agree.
This means the majority of time one spends on the internet is self-discovery. It used to be that everyone went through the same primary and secondary school system and then could go on to college, all the while having roughly the same access to materials. Now, you can access anything at any age with an internet connection. One’s level of knowledge and understanding at 15-years-old can exceed that of a 30-year-old from fifty years ago. You can know how to do anything before your brain fully develops at 25.
The problem with the internet is that everything is done in darkness. No one is watching you research, chat, watch, or build; in fact, there is no human element at all. In a post I wrote last year about how The Knowledge Gap is Killing American Public Trust, I highlighted that only 2% of the American population can code. At scale, for every 350 people, seven will build the online systems we use every day. We’re still so lost as a society when it comes to the internet.
So what’s the solution? It’s impossible to censor the internet. Instead, we should educate kids on the internet to the fullest extent. We must teach them the sheer magnitude of what they are capable of. Mainly, we must teach future generations about the psychological damage the internet can do to you.
#4 Mental health is everything
Mental health is real, it’s widespread amongst society, it’s probably going to affect you or someone you love, and it is no longer something ever to be taken lightly. I want mental health to be as serious as saying “bomb” at an airport in 2002. It cannot be a joke amongst friends, it cannot be a cop-out for anything, it cannot have a negative stigma, and it cannot go undetected.
We must start regularly screening kids for mental health like a blood pressure check. There should be programs in place in schools to identify it, and there should be specific protocols to help kids grow in it.
Mental health is as important as your physical health. I’d argue that if your mental health is good, your physical health will follow. An expert in the field once said, “First, patients have to know that they are worth caring for, then we can begin to help them.”
Final Thoughts
As Benjamin Franklin sat at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, he regularly stared at a painting above George Washington. He wondered if the scene was a rising sun or a setting sun. The delegations that ensued would decide it. As they concluded the final session, Franklin concluded that it was, in fact, symbolic of a rising sun over a new nation.
As Franklin was leaving the final session of the Constitutional Convention, he encountered a woman who asked, “Well, Mr. Franklin, what have you given us: a monarchy or a republic?” Franklin replied, “A republic… If you can keep it.”
Ben Franklin implies that it is up to us, the people, to govern our nation. The document these men created is the greatest the world has seen because it includes language to account for unforeseen circumstances - like 27 school shootings in five months.
Change is something that people hate. We hate learning a new social norm from what we believe is a glorious past. Gun ownership is the epitome of a changing social norm, one that is so rooted in the culture of America that it seems impossible to overcome. For the notion of guns to ever flip on its head, you have to remove it from all forms of media that make it acceptable and cool.
Think of all the inconceivable social issues we have made acceptable by 2022; it is not crazy to think future generations have the power to abolish the value of guns.
From a human standpoint, America is immersed in the “don’t bother me” way of life. We see this the most in suburban communities where families pull their car into the driveway, park in the garage, lock the doors, and hypothetically light up a sign that says “don’t bother me.”
It’s never been wrong to seek safety, something we aren’t guaranteed but afforded in America, but it is damaging to isolate yourself from the other 95% of people who have no malicious intent on your life. When we spend large amounts of time in isolation, we develop a fun-house mirror version of events happening in the real world.
We must reintegrate into one another’s lives - it is the only way to ensure a fixed reality. In our post-Covid world, this will be the greatest struggle for future generations to overcome. When you isolate yourself, you’ll slowly diminish all of your relationships until there are none left. When no one is left, you build the world as you want to see it.
Do we really want to change the downward spiral of society? Start by investing in other people’s lives before your own - beginning with your own family.
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Ladies and gentlemen, gather around.
Behold one of the most spectacular harms,
the last remaining of its kind,
the one, the only, the firearm.
You see, generations ago,
a firearm was commonplace.
People loved the idea
of the threat granting them space.
This space was to be desired;
it said stay away and don’t bother.
But all it brought was blurred lines,
as one would even feel this toward a father.
When you approach the case to examine,
remember the distance firearms create.
All in the name of humans to decide
what should be your fate.
Today, we acknowledge our fortune
That weapons are no longer allowed.
Thanks to mental health research
that taught us how to be in crowds.