Survival Arts

What galls me the most about this "land of the free" is that this insight is considered "controversial".

I have come to the conclusion that the reason people don't just "throw the bums out" and vote for freedom, is that they genuinely are afraid of their neighbors. They fear freedom for other people, thinking that regulation is the only thing that stands between themselves and violent death.

Handguns are an excellent example. Someone who wouldn't think twice about balancing their own checkbook, and "looking both ways" before crossing the street, dreads a handgun because it represents no longer relying on those regulations for personal safety.

They cannot admit that regulations do not provide "safety", so anything that reflects badly on those regulations is itself anathema. They fear what firearms in private hands truly represents.

This adds yet another layer to hoplophobia. It makes it still harder for someone with the condition to admit they are irrational, because they might honestly say they do not "fear" guns.

They fear their neighbors. What an awful fear that must be.

Curt-

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership put out a good brochure/comic a while back that discussed this trait of anti-gunners. I believe the title was something like "Do Gun Prohibitionists Have A Mental Problem?". The premise was that anti-gunners are engaging in projection when they say that they're afraid someone will lose their temper and shoot someone else on the spur of the moment. Subconsciously, they're afraid that they're unable to control their own emotions, so they project that fear onto gun owners. I think there's real merit in this argument.

As you said, Curt, how awful it would be to fear your neighbors. How much worse to be afraid of what you yourself might do? How could you protect yourself from yourself? The best you could do would be to minimize the opportunities to place yourself under stress. Never try too hard at anything, never do anything difficult with passion. Mediocrity would be your watchword. Of course, when you look around and see the fun that others are having, you begin to get jealous. Those people are pushing themselves too hard! They're going to break down, go nuts, and kill somebody! There have to be limits placed on what they can do. No flying an airplane without a license (even alone, over an empty desert). No skydiving without x hours of training. No operating a ham radio without passing a test first. Drive at or below an arbitrary speed, regardless of road or traffic conditions. Once everyone's in their own little "safety box", then I can relax. No one can get at me, and I can't get at anyone else. It's convenient, too. When I die, you can just transfer my safety box into my grave. Of course, you'll have to figure out a way to tell the difference between the living and the dead.

I ordered copies of Hope, Death By Gun Control and Innocents Betrayed from JPFO about 2 months ago, and they sent 6 of their Grandpa Jack (who bears a remarkable resemblance to Aaron Zelman, I cannot imagine why...) comic books along as a thank you.

One of them is indeed "Do Gun Prohibitionists Have A Mental Problem?"

I don't remember which "Commandment" it is, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors stuff. Such wisdom! Such freedom from worry to just leave ones neighbor to their own devices and get on with your own life.

Pretty much ignored, unfortunately. I think the Party of State Power is ensuring that such wisdom is never dispensed in the public schools, so there will always be plenty of sheeple clamoring to be saved from their neighbors.

The pap psychiatrists are doing a disservice by not shouting about this particular mental condition loudly and often. Hmmm, maybe I can catch one of them off guard in a call-in situation... Hmm...