Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 06:08:49 -0500 (EST) From: "Strider's Retreat" <[s t rider] at [mercury.interpath.com]> To: Multiple recipients of list <[n--b--n] at [Mainstream.net]> Subject: Inspiring essay The following is by Tara Powell, an English major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was published as a letter to the editor in the "Daily Tarheel." the UNC-CH campus newspaper. I believe Tara has recently signed on to NOBAN. It is posted with her consent. Bravo, Ms. Powell. Keep up the good writing! ***************** * Michael Jones * * Hickory, NC * ***************** ************************** "Armed citizens are powerful, responsible ones" by Tara Powell Published in The Daily Tar Heel, Tuesday January 7, 1997 In my wallet there is a yellow card stating that in October 1989 I passed the hunter's education course in Pasquotank County. I confess to not having passed with flying colors. Still, it was a hoop I had to jump through to get out of high school, and I did it. Yes, that's right. My hometown requires that no one leave high school without having learned how guns work and how to aim and fire rifles, shotguns and handguns. Though Elizabeth City has some foolish features, this is one area where the system is to be commended. Growing up in a family where manhood is measured in antlers, I saw a "dead Bambi" before I was 10. Still, the first time I touched a loaded weapon it was partly in excitement, but mostly in trepidation. In the slick, cold metal that morning, I seemed to hold Danger. I didn't possess it -- merely held it in shaking hands. That changed as I fired the gun clumsily and it kicked, bruising my shoulder. I'd seen plenty of guns fired, but the hole that rifle ripped on the far corner of the target was mine. And I realized that, with practice, I could put that hole anywhere I needed it to go. Guns are not Danger, they are Power. We organize our lives around power -- who holds it, why, and how much. Political power, economic power, intellectual power, physical power .... A gun is a form of physical power that represents both mastery and weakness. The fact that man can build a gun to defend or feed himself is Strength -- a monument to intellectual power, to his ability to master nature's beasts and the beasts in the ranks of his own species. On the other hand, that guns are fired at human beings is a monument to human imperfection. Like any other form of power, a gun is a weapon that irresponsible, insane and evil people can wield against the rest of society. I am lazy enough (and lucky enough) that I will probably never hunt for my food. But the insanity of the world around me means that I, myself, might be hunted. It could be by a lunatic, by a calculating enemy or perhaps by a government turned totalitarian. It may well be by a robber sneaking in my house with the intention of taking my property. Though the forms of threat vary, I am reminded of my frailty each time I turn down a dark alley or a strange shadow looms by my window late at night. We live in a society where we can almost uniformly assume muggers will be armed and law-abiding citizens not in uniform will be defenseless. This tilts the odds dreadfully in favor of the maniac. Laws that take guns from the populace only take them from those that obey the law -- excluding the population we ostensibly wish to prevent from carrying arms! Just over one year ago, North Carolina passed a law allowing citizens to obtain permits to legally carry concealed weapons. Since that time, over 20,000 Tar Heels have applied for and been granted such permits. These permits return a basic right and a sense of security to the people who go through the necessary rigamarole to obtain them. The only reported instance I have found of a gun owner licensed under the North Carolina law actually using his weapon was in Wake County. A Raleigh mechanic named Marty Hite stopped a restaurant hold-up by shooting a robber in the leg. In the 28 other states who have similar laws, the effects of concealed-carry permits are under debate. Though some studies correlate the permits with decreases in violent crime, the statistics are hotly disputed. Be that as it may, it is clear that concealed weapons have not, as some critics supposed they might, turned the state in to the "OK Corral." I'd like to see us go further. Not only does the U.S. Constitution guarantee citizens the right to bear arms, but bearing them is, in a sense, a social duty. Informed, conscientious citizens (like Mr. Hite) committed to a free society should be able to protect their persons, property and ideals from forces that threaten them. Are guns a form of power some people are not responsible enough to exercise? Yes. Is it possible for improper use of guns to result in accidents? Yes. Should children, maniacs and criminals be permitted the authorized use of such weapons? Certainly not. The notion that an educated, responsible adult should not only be capable of carrying, but should, in fact, carry a weapon is one that is long overdue. It is frankly pathetic that in a state of over 7 million people, only 20,000 have accepted their moral and civic duty to take advantage of the new permits. Democracy is based upon the notion that individuals have an entitlement to access to power -- to be protected from it and to exercise it to protect themselves. Guns are one of the most obvious and effective forms of exercising power that exists. We should each take it upon ourselves to preserve our social system -- to carry weapons and to know how to use them. An ideal society would be one where there was no need to protect oneself. The next best society would be an armed one -- where every adult was armed with both intellectual and physical power to combat danger, insanity and injustice. Power should rest neither in criminals nor in external authority. Power should reside in the citizenry. Guns, like other forms of power, make us masters rather than victims -- willful agents rather than serfs at the whim of externalities. Only when we are all empowered will the first best society become a possibility. Eight years ago on a chilly autumn morning, I realized I could exercise power to prevent myself from being a victim. I don't have my handgun yet, but guess what my first paycheck after graduation will buy? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tara Powell is a senior English major from Elizabeth City. Reprinted with the author's permission. The Daily Tar Heel is the student newspaper for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.