Podcast: Play in new window
I don’t do musings posts very often, especially with the podcast. Current events this week have been a little wild with the stock market, and I’ve been watching from the sides. While I didn’t partake in the Gamestop madness, I’ve certainly been entertained with the news articles and chatter on Reddit.
During all of this, I realized that there is a common thread between the politics of gun control and what’s been happening all week with retail investors.
It’s About Control
The people of the gun are all to familiar with the phrase, “It’s not about the gun, it’s about control.”
By that, we mean that the gun control debate has really never been about the hardware itself, but about trying to constrain the power of the population to wield violence. Whether you buy into the idea that only governments should have a monopoly on the use of force is not the point here, so stick with me.
One of the biggest arguments in favor of the Second Amendment is that it represents a hedge against power. By flatly stating that the common citizen retains the tools for violence, it limits the ability of the “elite” to control the common citizen. As we’ve seen over and over in history, it’s all too common for the elite and connected of a society to set rules for everyone but never be held to those rules themselves.
Some Animals are More Equal Than Others
And that brings me to the events this week. The news networks are jammed full of financial industry “experts” crying foul that the common retail investor is winning against them using their own rules against them. At best, this is causing a conversation about how to better regulate the industry “to protect the common person from themselves.”
At worst, we’ve seen insidious attempts to control the damage of common investors through market manipulation and actively preventing them from participating in the system. All the while, the elite continue using the tools for themselves to get out of their obligations.
For many of us, this rings close to the 2008 crash where the financial elite gambled with the American economy, blew it up, and were then bailed out with little more than a slap on the wrist.
This is a Time to Build Connections
If you are into gun culture and Second Amendment advocacy, this is an opportunity. Perhaps you know someone who is today getting angry at the banks and financial elites for the games they are playing.
This is a chance to show them the similarities between how they are being treated and how gun owners have been treated. Politics aside, there are a stunning number of parallels related to stopping the common person from purchasing items, participating in certain activities, and otherwise limiting their ability to participate in an ostensibly legal and open market.
All of this, guns and finances a like, is done in the name of “protecting you from yourself.” Or, “Preventing another disaster.”
Well, to that I can only say…freedom is scary, and perhaps we should all learn a bit of risk management.
Once again, we’ll done sir. I love the ideas presented about networking and using it bring more people into the second amendment community.
Thanks, Wilan! These days it’s a huge deal to network and get more people interested, and this has presented an opportunity for sure.
Very important article that should be shared as often as possible. I am really digging the ideals of this website. Yes, it’s about firearms, but it’s about personal improvement as well. We have to get better, and it starts with me. Get fit, get spiritually, physically, and financially fit. We have to get out of “bad” debt. (Using the idea of good debt ie, the home/ bad debt ie credit cards, etc). I’ve always heard that debt makes one a slave. Personally, it’s coming into view now.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Hey Travis, thanks for commenting and I’m glad you enjoy the site! You’ve gotten to the heart of it: I believe in helping people become better across the board. Shooting is just an avenue for that.
Anytime the government says they are doing something for your safety you know there’s a rat in the house.
I’m making a prediction here and now, that gun control or confiscation will come in the name of a “Healthcare” or “Public Health” crisis. I’m already seeing billboards and hearing radio ads about guns and pills and their link to suicide. I’m convinced the pills are only mentioned as camouflage to hide the outline of gun control. I know that sounds a bit tinfoil hat, but you have to hear them to get the picture.
I think you are exactly right in that freedom is scary for some people. I have actually had friends comment that they would choose security instead of freedom without a safety net. A sad day hearing that to be sure.
Too bad I’ve lost all my guns in a tragic boating accident.
Hi Chris, thanks for commenting! I fear you are correct with your predictions. The hammer is coming one way or another, and the only way to stand against it is to have a large enough coalition of citizens willing to say no.
Nice perspective on this Matt!
Freedom is not FREE!
Thanks, Paul! Indeed it is not, yet I fear that the further away we got from anyone feeling any real “cost,” it’s only going to get worse.