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CoreyWhittFirstEssay 5 - 06 Jun 2022 - Main.CoreyWhitt
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In a society soaked in gun violence, firearms are the omnipresent thumb on the scale of our interactions with one another; where anyone can have a gun, everyone is a threat. The power dynamic threads every exchange and encounter with those around us. In the spaghetti Western epic, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Blondie saw the same: “[I]n this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig.” | |
< < | Firearms are the American counterbalance to fleeting security and certainty, with the proposition echoing throughout history. From the influence of the English jurist William Blackstone on the Founding Fathers to the commentary of Columbia Law Professor Phillip Bobbitt, guns safeguard our own soundness in the face of chaos. The Black Panther Party recognized as much, making firearms a pathway for Black Americans to protect themselves from the racist police tactics of the Oakland Police Department, advising members that “the gun is the only thing that will free us — gain us our liberation.” And when firearms had threatened such a scenario, the California Legislature and then-Governor Ronald Reagan responded by passing the 1967 Mulford Act, prohibiting the carry of loaded firearms without a permit. | > > | Firearms are the American counterbalance to fleeting security and certainty, with the proposition echoing throughout history. From the influence of the English jurist William Blackstone on the Founding Fathers to the commentary of Columbia Law Professor Phillip Bobbitt, guns safeguard our own soundness in the face of chaos. The Black Panther Party recognized as much, making firearms a pathway for Black Americans to protect themselves from the racist police tactics of the Oakland Police Department, advising supporters that “the gun is the only thing that will free us — gain us our liberation.” And when firearms had threatened such a scenario, the California Legislature and then-Governor Ronald Reagan responded by passing the 1967 Mulford Act, prohibiting the carry of loaded firearms without a permit. | | Guns are the American solution to waning safety and independence because of the might that accompanies them. If you don’t want to “dig,” you better bring a gun. In other words, staring down an overwhelming number of shootings across all American spaces, “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” |
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