Islam and the Second Amendment

Last night I had an interesting conversation with my brother.  It started by talking about his experience attending a Islamic mosque and listening to an excellent sermon and ended with the never ending Second Amendment debate.

My brother is taking a class on Islam from BYU, and he expressed frustration that most people expect it to be a class on terrorist. He said despite what many seem to believe Islam is not a religion of terrorism. I asked him what he thought about terrorism and what caused it to be  prevalent in the Middle East. His one word answer surprised me: Culture. His explanation surprised me even more.

He went on to explain that these countries have  been war torn for years. Killings and bombings that would be extreme to us are somewhat expected and unsurprising there. Therefore, in Middle Eastern countries, the culture is more accepting of death and killing. I still was a little unconvinced at this point, but then the story got personal.

"While I was in Honduras I talked with a man who lived in what used to be the most dangerous part of town," he said. My brother lived there for 2 years as a missionary and I have heard many stories of men being gun downed on his front porch or being stabbed to death in the middle of the day in the streets in the not so bad part of town.  He continued, "The man told me that gangs used to be a real problem where he lived. One day the people there got tired in living in fear and whenever they saw anyone commit a gang type crime they would go out with their machetes and kitchen knives and hack them to pieces. Now it is the safest neighborhood to live in." He finished by explaining that death is something you see every day in Honduras, and that has caused death to be more accepted in their culture, and even by him after living there. The story really illustrated how even killing comes to be acceptable if you are exposed to it enough. If seeing death every day had this type of impact on Honduras, what would seeing horrific war every day do to the Middle East?

How does our culture impact our views on death, killing, and violence? Fortunately for most Americans death and extreme violence are not frequent occurrences. In fact, for many Americans firearms, knives, or other weapons are foreign. I have been very surprised by the number of people I have met who have never seen a real gun, let alone shot one. When my husband entered basic training for the army 2/3 of his battery of 195 soldiers had never shot a firearm before.  Knifes are only for the kitchen, and explosives are for bad guys.

I'm not saying its necessary for everyone to have exposure to guns, knives, and explosives. I do think not having exposure to them does have a large impact on our culture and we need to be aware of that. People are afraid of the unknown. I was afraid of being around death until I took anatomy and worked at an elderly living center. I was nervous around guns until I spent time handling one regularly.

If a large portion of the American public has no or very limited experience with firearms is it any surprise that they are nervous about them? Maybe even to the point that it seems irrational? What kind of impact does having guns so far removed have? Does it make Americans afraid of guns rather than the people in possession of guns? Does it make them victims to an inanimate object? Does it cause fear to arise from ignorance? Does it cause discomfort when in the presence of the unfamiliar?

I think so. I think our natural fear of death and violence has in someways been misplaced and mislabeled as a fear of guns. Guns don't kill. People kill. So the question becomes who do we want to have guns? Who do we want educating the public and influencing culture? I think this is really what the Second Amendment is about these days.

So the question is what culture do you want in America? Let me know your thoughts.