GEORGE TEMPLETON: COMMENTARY
By George Templeton
Rim Country Gazette Columnist
Shooting Times
“Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot."
The Bird Hunter
It
was the rainy time, before global warming, before the tall pines died
from beetles and thirst, when you could not start a forest fire with a
five gallon can of gas, before more than one half million acres were
incinerated, when the Salt River ran and the desert mountains were
covered in green, before the glow worms, snails, bats, and frogs along
the Mogollon Rim expired. It was the time when the creeks ran year
round and the neighborhood kids swam in their pools.
The
Christmas season was approaching, with all its hustle, bustle, traffic
jams, and commercialism. The traffic jam on the way home was miles
long. I could walk the distance as fast as I could drive. To the West,
following the freeway, the smog hung heavily in the air defining the
thermal inversion layer in the air that reflected all the city noise
back upon itself. There was my neighborhood, close and convenient to
all the amenities, but all the houses were ticky-tacky boxes that looked
just the same and all the people waited in line thinking and feeling
the same way. Their garage doors opened and in they went. I thought:
Is this all there is?
There
must be a primeval instinct in me, to hunt for no good reason other
than to be outside, part of nature, and get away from it all. Quail
season was my excuse. They are dry little turkeys, smaller than a
Cornish hen. A few slices of bacon helps with that. But I needed a
shotgun for my wife, and they did not sell any pink ones in those days.
There were no quadruple barrel shotguns for sale because two shots were
enough. In the morning the two of us broke camp and sallied forth into
the wilderness armed with double barreled shotguns.
Quail
lie low and still, within the brush, until they decide you are too
close. Then, with startling suddenness the covey bursts forth in a rush
of wings and sound. You have to use both hearing and sight and start
swinging that gun barrel immediately if you are to have a chance. My
timid wife, lacking aggression, was having trouble with that and I
wanted to impress on her to not point the gun at me.
There
are two kinds of quail, live ones and dead ones. The live ones have
learned that it is quail season. They have a watch-bird that sits up
high and scans the surroundings for hunters. When he sees you from 100
yards away, the covey flushes. It flies downhill at 200 miles per
hour, 2 feet off the ground, while weaving in and out through the
cactus. Dead quail are in a ravine. They slowly fly up, fighting the
force of gravity. In their attempt to escape their natural confinement,
they make themselves an easy target.
We
crested a large rock on a steep hill, providing a panoramic view that
expanded forever. Suddenly, birds hiding around the base of the bolder
burst forth, exploding into the open space around us. My wife said,
“Shall I shoot?” Yes! By then the birds were receding 100 yards into
the distant horizon. Ka-boom! I caught my wife before the recoil
nearly knocked her off the rock and fifteen feet onto the ground below.
Continuing our pursuit of those birds, we hiked for miles through rough
terrain.
I
spend more calories hunting quail than I gain by eating them. When the
apocalypse comes, I plan on surviving by growing corn and eating bugs.
I won’t be hunting quail or defending myself from the marauding hoards
of my fellow man.
A paddle or a 357 magnum?
Should teachers have paddles? I remember when an angry teacher whacked
his student, across his spine, with the edge of the paddle to set an
example for the rest of the class. School boards should be concerned
about what happens when a teacher accidently shoots a good guy.
Are
teachers prepared to kill their students? Split second decision making
is necessary. The Lone Ranger always shot the gun out of the bad guy’s
hand. In the real world one has to aim for the biggest target, the
body. It takes courage, beyond the wielding of a paddle, and composure,
beyond the emotion of the moment, to risk one’s life. Will a
preparatory course in armed defense be added to the list of necessary
teacher qualifications?
A
defender risks shooting through the target and killing innocent
bystanders. Muzzle blast is terrific. Firing indoors, where lighting
is dim and walls reflect the sound, is a stunning experience. You
better hit your target with the first shot because you will be both deaf
and blind after that. Accuracy with a pistol requires regular
practice. Will there be a specified ordinance required for educators
that optimizes all of this?
Then and Now
My
gun owners guide explains, “… a gun cannot be carried concealed on
yourself in public”. Not anymore! There has been progress, the
transistor, the computer, and the internet, but social conflict and
human nature remains. At first the guns were on the battlefield, then
our cities and streets, in businesses, the marketplace, the theater,
next the church, and then our schools. And along with them, “strong
men”, ignorant of extreme consequences, say “As long as I have a gun I
don’t have to take orders from anybody”.
In
Arizona legal concealed weapons need no permit in most places, but some
people lack needed emotional maturity. We have no required cooling off
period for gun purchases. Will we create a world where the police, and
the taxes to support them, are no longer necessary because everyone
carries a concealed weapon? Guns everywhere turn every disagreement
into a matter of life and death and every person into a vigilante. It
creates a world where fear, machismo, and even our police stand their
ground, potentially overreacting in lethal ways.
In
1994 we had a ban on high capacity magazines and assault rifles. It
was repealed in 2004. The ability to fire a large number of bullets
without stopping to reload determines the lethality of weapons. You
don’t need 150 round drums or 60 round magazines for hunting or
self-defense. The Las Vegas shooter fired more than 1,100 rounds,
leaving behind 4000 rounds of unused ammo in his hotel room. Shouldn’t
we take an interest in people who buy large quantities of ammunition?
There
are already more than four million assault style rifles in the
possession of Americans and God knows how many high capacity magazines.
You can’t solve that problem quickly, but progress begins with a single
step. A country that plans on going to Mars should be able how to
figure out how to limit the number of shots that can be fired without
reloading.
Most
of the gun injuries in America come from handguns, many of which are
too small to be useful for hunting. In the seventies, gun
advertisements did not advocate every member of the family having their
own pistol. The public did not want the police to carry semi-automatic
pistols because they were considered weapons of war and unreliable.
Public acceptance and technology have overcome that, but technology that
would prevent unwarranted use has not been implemented.
Students for a Civilized Society
In
1960 students accepted a literal Bible, believed that God was on our
side, church and state should be merged, and we just could not lose. My
generation believed that it would solve many of the world’s problems.
When
President Kennedy and Bobby were assassinated we were awakened to the
shocking reality that our lives would be a struggle. Wars would be
moral and patriotic, even with “Mutual Assured Destruction”. We
knew that separate could not be equal and that the color of one’s skin
had nothing to do with their character or intelligence.
When
Dr. King was murdered many claimed that it was good riddance. A
promiscuous Communist, who was unjustifiably stirring up otherwise
satisfied, freed slaves was gone. They could not see the parallel
between the Exodus and desegregation. They did not understand that King
was the white establishment’s best friend.
Today’s
students are discovering that the brotherhood of the gun doesn’t care
if they are massacred for no reason. “No reason” is not what their
lives will be about. They will define the meaning of the next fifty
years. To find their place, they must fight, strive, and struggle. We
must not be afraid of changes they make for the better.
The
Psychoanalyst, Karen Horney, argued that children need security and
freedom from fear for development of healthy personalities.
Self-interest that dwells on chasing the ambulance, adores violence, and
allows terror to shape its behavior is sick.
It
is unconscionable that we should reject our children, be indifferent to
them, ridicule them, and become hostile to their legitimate attempts to
improve their world. We should be disgusted at the Vermont
conservatives who, in response to proposed gun control legislation, gave
away 1200 high-capacity magazines. We should be dismayed by Ted
Nugent. He claims that the students calling for gun control have “no
soul” and are “mushy brained”.
Firearm Violence
The
bumper sticker reads, “Guns Save Lives”, but that is not the whole
story. We don’t have the facts. If we did we would still need their
context. Given them, we should look for an explanatory theory. But
theories often reach far beyond their facts.
Guns
are a major health risk in America. A 1993 study found, contrary to
the NRA’s assertion, that having guns in the home puts everyone in much
greater danger. But this is a risk that has many parameters needing
scientific investigation.
Government
has been reluctant to fund NIH / CDC gun injury research since the 1996
NRA Dickey Amendment was enacted. Facts that conservatives don’t want
to hear are not gun regulations, but expertise can be regarded as a
manifestation of the “deep state”. Data, that we unavoidably bring
meaning to, gives them a headache. The clever dictator knows that he
has more power when he can keep his populace divided; make them think
that their differences are an intrinsic property of who they are, not
something requiring policy and nuance, not really driven by any
philosophy. A lack of policy facilitates unhinged flip flopping. It is
not a five-year business plan, wisely and carefully contemplated and
adjusted. It is self-interest.
ust
back from America, I lit up the TV to hear a presidential president, in
complete English sentences free of personal pronouns, tell Congress how
the United States was destroying a world that badly needs its
leadership.
