Comments on: Lessons from Blacksburg (the one year anniversary)

By: William

William — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:53:48 +0000

I can imagine guns being accessorized in much the same way that other things are, though, with certain models going in and out of fashion, or clashing with certain outfits.
“Are you kidding? The 92FS in .45ACP is so last Tuesday! 10mm is where it’s at now, honey.”
“Actually, I rather like it with that dress. A 1911 might work better, though, especially in frothy pink, slung just slightly higher.”
Annnd, that hurts write. But you get the idea, I suspect.

I’ll have to admit that I’m against gun control in principle, though I don’t personally own any firearms, so I doesn’t have really strong feelings either way. Being in Japan has definitely reinforced that feeling, though. It’s illegal to carry any kind of weapon here, since the “Ban on guns, swords, and knives”. Seriously, you can’t even carry a Leatherman here. It’s stupid and it’s frustrating. I have a feeling this has had a fairly large effect on the Japanese people in a negative way, but I haven’t found a way of saying that doesn’t involve the word “sheep”.

By: Cyde Weys

Cyde Weys — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:39:32 +0000

A perfect society and perfect machines are two completely different things. I was only positing the former in my completely unrealistic example.

I think this just helps to further illustrate the futileness of arguing from impossible antecedents.

(But in a perfect society with perfect guns, why would you ever carry a gun around when you knew you would never need it? It’s added weight, it’s bulky, and it’s completely incompatible with many fashion styles, especially most kinds of women’s clothing.)

By: drinian

drinian — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:24:28 +0000

See, I imagine that a perfect society with perfect people would also have perfect weapons.

It would also be perfectly boring, but that’s a whole other point.

By: Cyde Weys

Cyde Weys — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:43:29 +0000

I think you misunderstand my point. The reason no one would carry around weapons in a perfect society is that, since there was no need for them for self-dense against others with weapons, there would be no reason to unnecessarily put everyone at risk of accidental shootings. Weapons are deadly implements designed to kill people. No matter how many safeties you put on them, there’s always the chance that they will do what they were designed for, even accidentally.

So yes, I do care about whether others are carrying around weapons, even in a perfect society, because those weapons are putting me at an increased, unnecessary risk of injury or death.

By: drinian

drinian — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:35:47 +0000

In a perfect society, no-one would care whether others were carrying around weapons. But we’re not perfect beings.