| The Lords of War - and the Amassing
of Firearms
†
March 2006
There is much that contributes to the anti-gun culture.
It perpetuates to the extremes in pacifistic country such as New
Zealand. Somewhat ironic since it has produced some of the best
military forces in the world and our modern nation has been founded
upon the skills of the outdoors.
While much of the world has her eyes open in regards
the reality of violence, we remain blind.
A rifle is a tool, like any other item of purpose-built
engineering. The user decides how it is to be implemented. The rifle
is designed specifically to kill, there is no question of that.
Anyone who uses this as part of an argument is not adding anything
by claiming pure fact.
A peacekeeper is armed to protect themselves and
those about them. They must be armed to present a “show of
force”, one which is required if they are to be taken seriously.
It acts as a deterrent against aggression, either against them,
or rival groups. The weapon, in this instant, like a car, a chainsaw
or a book, is not a device intended to kill, due to its state of
implementation. A testament of failure to do so, a lack of willingness,
is surely shown in recent years with the likes of Rwanda or the
Balkans.
No, a car is not a weapon of design, but the instant
that a user of that piece of equipment decides it is so, the new
implementation makes it so. The driver does not need to be drunk.
The effect is the same as if the victim was shot, only, no doubt
it is easier and more convincing in a shorter space of time.
To put it in perspective and a modern military context.
most rounds that firearms use to kill are not very efficient killers
at all, including the current issue rifles of Western militaries,
the 5.56mm NATO cartridge, which is a long range varmint cartridge
of all things - yes, designed to kill rabbits and such like. That
simply means more ammunition is expended, and lives are further
risked. Our sons and daughters are sent to war zones with just such
equipment. This equals more money in the pockets of the manufacturers
and more work for the mortuaries of this world. Someone needs to
tell the politicians that the days of the Cold War are over. An
extremist does not hold to the same value of human life as we expected
in those times of our potential enemies, who indeed shared the same
enemies but a few decades before.
It seems that many a person claiming the advocating
of peace (and who in their right mind would not?) leaves out the
basic fact that man, by nature, is a fighter, and somehow simple
words of reason would have a man, woman or child on some battlefield
instantly dropping their weapon for a new way of life. Never mind
that some feuds have been raging for centuries. Never mind that
some have no other (as absurd as it may seem to you, in a first
world country) way of making a living.
People like recently much publicised Harmeet Singh
Sooden of Christian Peacemaker Teams fame think they will save the
world by putting themselves in harm’s way and not listen to
the warfighters on the ground, then risk the soldiers’ lives
in a rescue mission that need not have occurred if these arrogant
attitudes stayed at home.
It is easy for us here, particularly in a country
like New Zealand, to judge another man for having an AK47 assault
rifle on his kitchen table, a pistol under his pillow, when he needs
to protect his family from marauding bandits, disloyal soldiers
or dissident rebels. We have that liberty. Many live in fear day
and night. And I assure you, though the rifle be the instrument,
it most certainly is not the cause. Until the root of the evil is
smothered, the instrument will continue to be presented as the simplest
mode of resolution, whether it be a stick, a rock, a knife a rifle
or a missile.
It is easy to come to the conclusion that, so long
as people are quick to anger and slow to think, war on all levels
will continue to dominate the global landscape. It seems that one
need travel less and less distance these days to find an excuse
to exact violence upon their fellow man. One only need to look to
the Solomon Islands, the Philippines or East Timor for current examples,
Borneo or Malaya to take things a little further back. We ignore
such realities at our peril. Personally the current government does
nothing to ease my nerves when our PM uses such phrases as our living
in a “benign strategic environment”.
The root of the troubles lies not in the inanimate
object known ubiquitously as gun. Its trade makes commercial sense.
Sadly as it may be, that until the attitude to the former is resolved,
many will continue to profit from the latter.
[ Printed in September 2006 issue of Investigate
Magazine ]
http://www.investigatemagazine.com |
