An old elementary school friend writes to me sometimes. Right wing stuff. Something written by someone else. His last was called “Why Grandpa carries a gun.” We were friends in elementary school. He knows we are both old enough to be grandpas.
The rest of the piece was about the massacres of the twentieth century: the Armenians by the Turks, the Jews by the Nazis. He didn’t specify who Stalin killed. Chinese by the Communists. Mayans by the Guatemalans (though he didn’t acknowledge the US role in that), the educated by the Cambodians.
I answered. I answer him faithfully. I promise that I will take him seriously. I told him that an old man with a gun can’t protect himself or anyone else from tyranny by the state. Maybe a militia with training can make a dent. But not more than a dent.
I told him about the resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto. Four months of resistance against a modern army. Futile in the end. I told him that even if they could do it, I have no interest in being liberated by the characters who make up American militias. They are more likely to do me harm than help me.
I told him that the examples he gave me were examples of leaders who cared little for the lives of the people of their country, little for following the law, and a lot about taking care of themselves. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Amin. I told him we’ve got a few people around now with the potential for emulating evil leaders of the twentieth century – Putin, Xi, Trump.
I told him the steps Australia and New Zealand took to reduce (not eliminate) the availability of guns. In doing that, they changed the culture about guns. People in those countries, notwithstanding the recent attack on a New Zealand mosque, do not spend time worrying about mass shootings. I told him that those who don’t want guns regulated will either have to accept regulation or change the culture without regulation. The leaders in favor of regulating guns are now the survivors and the families of those who did not survive mass shootings. I told him that no matter how much he and other grandpas value their guns, they are in jeopardy if they don’t change the culture, change it enough so we are no longer worrying about mass shootings.