Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Dangerous weapons, guns, guns, guns....kids and marriage

The Small Arms Survey (this link did not work) recently showed Guns per Captia world wide. It stated that America has, well, a lot of guns. The Small Arms Survey was published by the UN. Those were just a few of the insights found in the tenth annual Small Arms Survey 2010: Gangs, Groups, and Guns, which was launched today at Headquarters in New York during a press conference organized by the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations.  The 343-page report was put together by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies:
  • America is #1 in the world with 90 guns per 100 citizens
  • The #2 slot is held by Yemen, with 61 guns per citizen.
  • The United States owns 30% of all known guns in the world and buys 50% of all new guns made in the world.
  • Consider that the US has 5% of the world's people.
That, is a lot of guns.

I have always wondered why, you can't get a driving license without study, practice and testing. But you can buy a gun to allow the easy demise of multiple people in quick succession, with little, or sometimes, no education whatsoever.

Why? Because of a constitutional element? This goes along the lines of any idiot can get married or have kids, but to end a marriage or properly or successfully raise a child, is quite difficult.

Doesn't it seem sometimes that things are a bit backward?

I would like to see people have to apply for a gun, for marriage, for childbearing. I would like to see them unable to own a gun, marry someone, or have a child, until, they know, understand, feel comfortable with, having or being responsible for, any one of those. Responsibility first. What makes you think anyone who purchases a gun can be responsible for it and its effects.

I would say perhaps we should find a way to disable the capability for childbearing, until a certain age, until a mature understanding of what it entails, prior to enabling it and allowing anyone to have kids. I think granting that right, should be liberal and fairly openly available, but unavailable until a person reaches a certain age, a certain degree of competence in life and in child rearing.

I think divorce should be easy. I think marriage, as it is in reality, should be hard, to acquire. People should only get married when they are ready and it has a reasonable chance of success. We have too many people who are having children, while they are still children. We have adults who have no right to have a child, having children and then raising really dysfunctional kids who grow up into adults and add to the national deficit and human suffering. We have people marrying into a physically violent coupling with someone they should never have been with. We have people marrying when, with a little bit of education, they could have a successful or much more successful, marriage.

Our priorities are all screwed up. Some of that is the fault of organized religions, as well as unorganized religions, for that matter. Perhaps, its time to stop, look around, and reset our understanding of how the world should work?

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