The problem of guns, and a solution template. It doesn't have to be like this.

Put in its most generous form, the insistence on civilians being allowed to accumulate an arsenal of deadly weapons, including assault rifles and handguns, has to be connected to the perception that to give up the right to do so would be a stage in the theft of individual, personal freedom. To that mindset, the nostalgia for an imagined Wild West of courageous men with holsters and weapons on each hip and a rifle in the scabbard is enormously appealing.

The preservation of an imagined past, refusal to accept the changes happening in the present, and the human hunger for status and power all play together to provide us with the current dilemma surrounding, for instance, gun laws. It echoes the oft-cited assertion that a focus on individual freedom without the accompanying responsibilities easily devolves into licence. The reluctance to adapt to change in the face of progress (as in a refusal to take into account the advancing destructive capability of weaponry) is immobilizing USA politics, where those with conservative viewpoints and those with progressive impulses are roughly equal in numbers.

It's futile to recite statistics to show that gun saturation in a population massively increases danger to ordinary citizens living ordinary lives. The conservative mindset seems stuck on an image from old John Wayne movies, where the fictional hero is highly individualized, is made safer by the six-shooters on his hip and could only be made finally safe and invulnerable if he had a cart behind with a nuclear weapon on board.

If it could be shown that citizens in countries with strict gun laws feel their freedom is in danger, if Canadians, Norwegians, the British, Australians were crying out that their countries had become destroyers of individual freedoms, would that reinforce in American conservatives the conviction that the sacrifice of innocents was worth their insistence on a perverted interpretation of the Second Amendment?  Not necessary; by its actions, conservative thinking on gun laws says daily that the deaths of innocents—men women and children—is unavoidable collateral damage in a just war.

People of North America: if you want the gun carnage to stop, and if you really mean it, here’s how you may need to go about it:

1.      When you see statistics comparing gun deaths in other developed countries to the USA, believe them; they can’t be faked.

2.       Organize into a “Peace Nation,” grassroots movement where every member signs up with a pledge not to vote for a candidate for public office who won’t commit to fostering a ban on military-style assault weapons except they be under the control of a “well regulated state or national militia.”

3.      Maintain “Peace Nation” as a non-partisan, one issue, one goal movement, and defend it against any attempt to attach it to a party or ideology.

4.      Do not organize beyond what’s barely necessary. Be aware that as humans, we can be corrupted by money or power. Any donations made to support this effort should be turned away if they exceed $5.00.

5.      Support your local school actively. Nothing beats a solid, truthful, broad education except for that kind of school education bolstered by the modelling of a solid, truthful, tolerant community.

6.      Use the internet, social media discretely. Announce local activities by word of mouth and by telephone wherever possible. Internet postings can be hacked and data bases—including individual names—sold to be used for commercial or nefarious purposes. Many will be tempted to exploit “Peace Nation” in any way possible.

7.      The goal is to ensure that elected persons will actually be the instruments of change. Keep that as your focus and don’t be deterred by party loyalties and don’t attack the party loyalties of other members.

8.      When this movement has done all it can do, terminate it entirely; its history will be archived in the memories of those with the courage to finally be “We, the people.” Don’t let it live as a straw man for QAnon, Fox News, Alex Jones and others to attack with baseless conspiracy theories … and they will.

“Where do I sign?”

Sorry, it doesn’t exist yet … and never will … unless a few people with determination and courage establish a centre and focus, give it birth and nurture the movement. Could that be you?

And if you’re Canadian and think that’s nothing to do with us, think again. Do a search for and read the for and against articles under "Canada's Gun Lobby" before picking a hard and fast opinion on gun control.