On dealing with the anti-gun

When I was down in Olympia the other day testifying in opposition to an anti-gun bill (veiled "no private sales/impose registration" act hiding behind a red herring of "gun show regulation") I chatted with Joe Waldron from over at the Second Amendment Foundation.

He pointed out rather cogently that the real "anti-gun" sorts were virtually beyond argument because their fundamental issue was about a fear of themselves - that they don't trust *themself* to have a gun without going homicidally bonkers, and thus it is unlikely they will ever be willing to trust anyone else.

At the time I argued, thinking of a good friend of mine who is a raging elitist on the subject ("there is no reason for anyone but trained experts to have or own guns! Maybe if someone lives alone 5 miles out into the woods and never ever takes it off their property they can have one! Same rules as someone living on top of a basement full of dynamite!")...but was forced to reconsider, once I got past the fact that my friend is on most every other subject delightfully rational and insightful.

When it comes down to it, his fundamental argument originates with "god forbid I should have a gun, I would just have a bad day and go berserk" (which given how generally rational and together he is, I rather doubt), and proceeds on with "and if that is true of me, a reasonably rational and brighter than average sort, then the unwashed masses CERTAINLY aren't capable or competent to handle such responsibility". From that, we discover a general (if kindly) contempt of the vast majority of the populace...

All else proceeds from this base, including arguments that the 2nd Amendment is either misinterpeted, outdated, or both; that the founding fathers cannot possibly have meant to have endorsed private ownership, and even if they did they were wrong as the rest of the world gets along just fine without this right and with a lower rate of violent death. (His belief, not mine)

Joe is right. The majority of the more enthusiastic anti-gun sorts do proceed from an emotional basis of fear and distrust first of self, and then the rest of the populace which we normally trust less than we do ourselves (which at least is a healthy bias, even if the fear and distrust of self is unjustified).

That my friend suffers this curse makes him no less my friend, but I am forced to agree to disagree on this particular topic where I find him going completely off the tracks from the rational, kindly, reality-based person I've found him to be on most every other subject we gab about into a "people cannot be trusted with this" mode.

Ah well...