It’s the guns. It’s an insanity of its very own
sharing pathology with all obsessions.
Niki Haley, in a photo posted today, May 1, 2023.
It’s not your usual collection of objects. Guns have always been collectible beyond their function. Historic weapons. Oddities of history or manufacture. The only one made, the most made model. All great categories for the collector of anything. Flint lock, musket. Maybe a “Lemon squeezer”, a .22 caliber pistol with a hand triggered safety “off” grip from the late 18th early 19th century. Perhaps a more recent “Desert Eagle”? Made till the 1990’s this weapon uses .50 action express bullet, the “ the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol”, and is gas operated. Weapons of war, the advances changed the character of fighting. All reasonable collections as may be the Colt .45 of Western movies. The six shooter that tamed the west. Let’s not go into what tamed means, today anyway.
Guns now are collected and displayed as we have seen in Christmas cards. Astride a vehicle, wearing tight clothes and staring with smokey sexy intensity. And that’s the children. Well, no, hoping not, maybe next year.
Guns, vehicles, cosmetics, shoes. We dump money into our obsession of choice. We feel rich when we throw away our money on trinkets as we compete with ourselves to own the libs, beat down maga, be counted, have a voice, be seen, find purity, peace or live longer.
Guns are indeed the problem, not immigrants, drag queens or law abiding “responsible” gun owners. Number and access of guns and assault weapons are at an all time high.
The gun lobby, the NRA, gun manufacturers, loose laws, criminality. The culprits, the problems identified without the human factor figured in. Obsession and triggers of that obsession. Low self esteem, and more feelings of depression, perception of a lack of control along with pretty colors, fanciful scenarios painted around a lifestyle and some brass ring to attain all figure in to the record number of weapons owned.
The more difficult life gets, the more jobs one need to sustain, we must find the talisman that brings us the ultimate control and happiness that we have somehow won. It’s put into the collection and fails to raise us up oh Lordy, we need to buy the one that comes with the…you know the story from here. More. More guns, more things. Shoes with lugs this year, higher lugs next year only to take them away in 2025. Shiny face with cheek implants now and you might get stuck with that stuff for a while.
Depression or being blue, down, having low expectations is tough. None of the store bought stuff that winds it way into “obsessive” are needed in these quantities. Obsessive purchasing is a pathology all its own that is fed by the emotions real and forced upon us by media through news and advertising. Scared? Buy a gun. Still scared, buy more. It’s a never ending hole that leads to more obsessive behavior that has a conspiracy quality. Fashion isn’t just clothing but the fashion of the day dictates cool and uncool. If your obsession object isn’t just right, you need a replacement or addition. Like five nearly identical little black dresses. Are they really identical? No way. Not to the owner or little black dress expert. Now you see why people don’t want government in their homes? The embarrassment of what’s in the three RV’s parked in the yard? The sheds and storage off site. Kinda kidding but does make me wonder.
The more difficulty we have with climate change and climate change deniers the more unnecessary junk that comes wrapped in plastic seem to be available. All counterintuitive.
All the more concerning is the compulsive buyer as the mouthpiece running interference for those of criminal mind, criminal intent. Suddenly the problem and the consequences are bigger and higher.
Mood and hormones. Brain chemistry of serotonin and more. The chemistry of anger and rage. The relative peace of meditation and flushed happiness of joy. Chemistry in the back and forth of mind and body as the intellect along for the ride searches for a peaceful framework to end the day with a job well done. The chemistry changes also as we age. The age of MAGA and Fox News watchers is pretty high. Is there a correlation?
Place everyone’s shopping history into a big bag of internet code and you have big information to sell in a big way to all those selling and want to sell more this year thank last. We all gave it away on the internet. We gave it away every time we used a red card. We all thought we would be served better or frankly if we didn’t give up our information, we wouldn’t be allowed participate in the internet, facebook ad infinitum. Now we see why.
Putting sales above safety and money above all things human or democratic and you have a striking resemblance to the USA in 2023. Seek guns in one sector, sell calming salve to the opposition win another. Sell books and smartypants glasses to one, maga outfits to another. Dueling sales. Everyone loses their money except corporate who keeps ours and they don’t pay tax dollars either.
So many ways to look at the place we find ourselves. Many ways out. All must be used as where we have come is unsustainable no matter how it goes. We reclaim our culture and our society by choosing a different politics or we will be lost as the country we know and understand. Its simple but not easy.
In a radical and personal moment I’m looking for the exit from the insanity without actually checking out or radically limiting my understanding or interaction with the world. Looking for joy in a simple way. Looking to live in difficult and extraordinary times with joy.
Ok, back from the sanity break. 85% of US people want gun background checks. The number of guns in the US has doubled in the last twenty years. Guns is a political problem. Political policy is usually set by voter sentiments. All Republican politicians support MORE GUNS by their refusals to bring legislation forward to limit guns, assault weapons and protect ourselves and our children. If you vote for the Republican Party in any election, you are voting for more guns. You are voting to defend assault weapon ownership by all with no limits. Sounding like the abortion battle. Fortunately the “pro-life” label has fallen off the GOP product.
Is “guns” just another object to Jones over? Yes, and no. Our country is big and complex. No issue is a one note problem or solutions. With an issue as big and as complex as this, there will be multiple answers to the solution.
It’s time. Past time perhaps, but the only real time is the present. This is the moment to limit gun ownership to responsible gun owners. Limits have to be replaced in the types of guns civilians are allowed to own. Licensing and education should be required. In some ways it once was. The time of asking permission of those who want no limits to limit guns is over. O. V. E. R.
Yes, we will be coming for your guns.
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