The Happy Hour is devoted to the discussion of addiction and recovery. It has been, for four years now, a space for me to share ideas about what makes up addiction of various kinds as well as propose some solutions to the problem. But, every now and then, some things about life in general are of such grave concern that they need to be shared in this space because they overlap - even distantly - with the topics of addiction and recovery.
The gun control debate is one of them.
Very soon, the vote on gun safety for background checks will come before the Congress. Pundits are now speculating that every single compromise that has been worked out to control access to weapons will be defeated and we will have no better system tomorrow than we have today. This is terribly upsetting to me. So, I've been asking myself why this seemingly insane behavior of refusing to allow the control of dangerous weapons will happen.
I think it has something to do with addiction. People who are so heavily invested in either the financial or the emotional outcomes of gun control legislation are behaving in much the same way that drug and alcohol pushers would react if there was an attempt to further curtail their activities selling alcohol or other drugs to the public. People who supply the alcohol or other drugs want the minimum amount of interference in their activities. The liquor lobby in Congress is nearly as powerful as the NRA...one only has to look at their ability to thwart content labeling on alcohol products or warning labels like those on cigarettes to see that they will go to any length to stop efforts to expose them for who they are. They are protecting the source of their power which is the intoxicating effect that such products have on those who use them.
And, that's where addiction comes in. To me, people who own and use weapons are people who are in desperate need to feel powerful against the forces of man and nature that they feel might destroy them. They are grasping for any rope to rescue them from the sea of threats that modern life presents. To them, mere life itself - in the form of criminals, competitors, or corruption - is threatening their happiness, their mobility, their freedom and their livelihoods. So, they arm themselves against these and other threats in the hope that they can "defend" themselves against evil or even the government itself they fear might turn against them. They are addicted to this need for power. The crave it, have urgent thoughts about it, and want to protect the source of that power (gun and ammunition sellers) in the same way that alcoholics or drug addicts want to protect the source of the relief they get from using. And, they are vulnerable to the various cues in their environment that suggest to them that they are about to lose that power. So, they rise up and make threats to act to defend this power in any way possible...including using weapons against those who would try to take their power away. And, behind the scenes operates the NRA...a lobbyist for the addictive power sources.
The NRA is a special kind of domestic terrorist organization. They operate in the public eye - much the way the old IRA operated - with the supposed support of a segment of the population. They allow others to do their dirty work - sometimes crazy people who shoot or bomb, other times "responsible" people who go astray. Their agents, called members of Congress, will soon again win a battle to thwart common sense gun safety measures. But, it seems, every form of evil that can be inflicted on others through weapon ownership goes back to the NRA. (I was shocked today to learn that the NRA even opposes the use of a special chemical in explosives so they can be traced to a manufacturer.) When are we going to stop their exploitation of the Constitution just so they can earn their crass money at the expense of the lives of innocent and ordinary people? When are we going to see them for what they really are...dealers in a power that has become the true opiate of the people?
So, we have a group of people in this country who are so weak at defending themselves that they need high-powered weapons to spray their power against anyone who threatens to curtail it. They are backed by truly diabolical, insane and manipulative people in the NRA. They are reinforced in their delusion that guns will protect them everyday when they read in the media that someone else has been murdered or attacked by a "them"... whoever they may be. And, caressing their weapons in their private stash like a drug addict or alcoholic who worships their fix or their drink, these people cower in the corner of the mainstream of life in America and make their own threats to vote you down, intimidate with fear or actually kill you with their guns.
This kind of thinking is admittedly a little bit of a stretch, but I am increasingly alarmed by the nature of addiction as a force in human life. We seem drawn to the flame like moths when we allow ourselves to drift into behaviors like using drugs or owning guns under the delusion that they will make us happy or give us peace of mind. Neither drugs nor weapons do that. Instead, armed with the power of media and money, terrorist organizations like the NRA hold out the promise - like the drug dealer - that guns will make it all better.
All I can do is write about such things... and pray for peace.
Roger W.
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