Lest anybody get carried away with b-movie plots as to why such a horrible event is newsworthy, I thought I’d put down my own take on this before it takes on the inevitable tabloid life of its own.
Not reasons why Hain’s murder was newsworthy:
–Not because it was some ‘live-and-die-by-the-sword’ thing. Although it’s generally true that carrying around firearms ups the potential for gun violence, I don’t see that as being what was going on.
–Not that she was ‘crazy’, a thrill-seeker, and that she took chances that ended up taking her life. She seems to have been a pretty down-to-Earth type.
–Not that gun nuts want to do gun violence, and that she surrounded herself with some itchy types who just gave in to their fantasy of shooting things. Although it sorta seems that way.

No–the reason it’s newsworthy is because it illustrates how gun nuts honestly feel they need guns. Just try to get into a discussion with them about how the world would probably be better off without all the millions of weapons we have around, and you’ll see how desperately they feel that need. The emotional tone goes right through the roof. For them, life itself seems impossible to fathom without weapons.
Why? I’ll tell you why. Because these folks labor with personal weaknesses that they feel can only be propped up by carrying around deadly force. They feel very vulnerable and can’t find any way to move forward in life without some serious firepower by their side. Can’t stand to go on without a better defense than they can strictly psychologically provide for themselves. So they turn to the quick fix of guns.
That’s the essential story. So the ‘weakness’ and the gun walk hand in hand together in perpetuity in American life, by the millions. And the gun nut never has to examine his mindset, and his ‘defender’, the gun, is passionately loved and obsessed over. That’s what was going on here, and that’s what’s frequently going on with the gun-loving Americans I’ve come to know.
But it’s no habit from another planet, right? Isn’t that exactly the case in our wars? Aren’t our soldiers taught to service and trust their guns? Isn’t then your gun just about your best friend?

Yes, it is. But, then, there, it’s understandable. Your ‘defect’ there is just your mortality. Your horrible, violent death is the avowed goal (as it was in the case of WWII) of perhaps millions of people. You’d better be well-armed and trained, and you’d better not sleep much.
But America is not a gun nut’s overseas war. America is their own hometowns, their own communities, not a foxhole behind enemy lines. The truth is that, here in America, one’s need for serious firepower in order to defend yourself is just above zero. Unless you live in one of those urban war zones or some awful place overrun with violent lunatics, you pretty much don’t need a gun. Argue whatever you like, but that’s the stone cold truth.
I live in a far more dangerous place than probably 95% of the current gun nuts live–Los Angeles. A guy was shot dead in my alley. The best friend of my roommate was intentionally run over and killed by an infuriated driver. But I absolutely do not need a gun to protect myself and go on surviving in the big city. I easily manage without it, day after day, year after year.
And yet, hundreds of thousands of other, less environmentally threatened Americans swear that they really, really have to have a gun. Especially a handgun, the easily concealed weapon best suited for shooting human beings in close quarters urban combat. They don’t feel right without one, and they freak out just considering living without it.
Clearly, the gun has become a psychological crutch for people to manage to go on. And I’m sure that’s why Meleanie Hain foolishly, openly carried a Glock to a soccer game for 5 year old girls. Annoyed parents called the Sheriff, the Sheriff thought it was inappropriate and yanked her concealed weapons permit, she filed with the local court, and she became a 2nd amendment hot celebrity when she got her CCW permit back.
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