Grief and 'Gun Control'

By L Truett Phillips. August 30th 2015
(Republished April 24th, 2018)

Another hideous murder…. Another burst of horror and grief…and the survivors cry for satisfaction. Grief demands satisfaction…grief is not rational… grief is not civilized.

In its most civilized form grief demands “answers” and seeks somewhere to place blame. Even in its best form, Grief is not a good basis for creating law. Law must be created out of cool, calm, rational reflection on what happened and how it fits into the laws that already exist.

Psychologists Elizabeth Kubler Ross and others have codified several stages of grief: Shock.. Denial.. Anger… Bargaining.. Acceptance and Resolution.

Much of existing societies' codes and laws, are a result of the first stages of grief. Bargaining with ourselves and our own demons and then bargaining with our peers and society at large is where much of lawmaking takes place.

Only after the first three stages have passed can we begin to put anger in place with enough perspective to begin. Because what we seek to do in making new laws out of the anger of grief is to make new laws derived out of the prism of our pain… to inflict our pain on others. .......

With the increased trend in recent times towards attempting (even) more 'gun control', it is apparent that not only is it emotion driven but also awash with misinformation. The author of this still very relevant article, (first published 2015) looks at the effects of grief on the 'knee-jerk' reactions which try to place blame squarely on 'the gun' while seeking to infringe further on our rights without accepting many more important issues.

"You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side."
You just have to love freedom.

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