My arguments for firearms
A lot of people, mostly friends, ask me why it is that every time they or other people mention a particular item and its price, I always compare it with a firearm and how such a hefty sum could buy one or two guns already. Well, aside from the fact that I am a huge fan of weapons, especially those that go boom and bang, here’s a list of arguments for firearms.
1. Guns are almost always given bad press.
Let’s face it, the public in general has this stereotype of guns as death-bringers, tools used by motorcycle-riding bandits, terror groups, or robbers in the fulfillment of a crime. While this is not at all false, it is likewise not the entire truth.
Let me go straight to the point: Guns are not evil in themselves! They are nonliving, nonthinking, unprogrammed tools, incapable of moral acuity or cognitive reasoning. It is the person behind a firearm who determines its fate and for what purpose it is to be used.
Remember that while you label firearms as criminal implements, and you stereotype legal owners and carriers of a firearm as no-good troublemakers, it is also because of firearms that you are enjoying your liberty, and it is to the people who decided to take up arms against foreign tyrants that we owe this liberty the most.
To put it in a simpler perspective, guns can be used to save lives just as much as they could take lives.
2. Acquiring a firearm in the Philippines is sooo difficult.
This is saying that the borderline-draconian gun laws require so much and restrict so much more from citizens who wish to purchase guns legally. However! Given the state of mind of most Filipinos at the moment with respect to firearms, I can’t blame the government.
Still, the sheer difficulty of owning one is underscored by the requirements of firearms registration and license to own and possess firearms (or Ltopf).
That said, it becomes such a fulfillment when you finally purchase your very first one, as compared to unrestricted luxuries such as high-end shoes and the latest iPhones or smartphones on the market.
3. Guns are not phased out as quickly as phones, gadgets, and even cars.
It follows that they don’t depreciate as much as these gadgets do, which follows that you get better value for the money than these gadgets do.
Look, I’m not trying to hate on tech people, or their stuff. But if you’re not a tech geek and you’re crazy about buying the latest iteration of your favorite mobile phone (which always changes within a year or less), just so you could be the “it guy/girl,” I leave you with this simple question: How much of your phone’s apps do you actually use to their full potential? Or better yet: How many of your phone’s apps do you actually know how to use?
One day you are the Alpha male with the new iPhone 5; half a year later you’re the Beta male because now they have the iPhone 5s. A year later they release the new iPhone 6, and the 6s, and the 7, and so on, which leaves your original P30,000-60,000 phone at — what, P12,000? P13,000? P16,000? In a matter of three or four years?
Let’s look at firearms. One of the oldest models still in mass production and still very popular to this day is the 1911 design by J.M. Browning. That’s over 100 years old. How much will your iPhone cost in 100 years?
A more contemporary firearm would be the striker-fired Glock, which was originally conceived in the 1980s — barely over 30 years old and yet only in the fourth generation or iteration of the original pistol. You get the point.
4. Recreational shooting is a great catalyst for the perfect first date.
What’s your idea of a perfect date? Dinner in a fancy restaurant? What a cliché. How about travelling out of town or out of the country? Too expensive. Well, if you own a gun, why not take her out firing? Introduce her to the joy and fun of shooting responsibly. Trust me, she will remember you for it. And who knows, she might just like you.
People nowadays are always looking for something new. So why not spice it up with a little bang?
And for the ladies, you who wield a gun are not only hot, you are also empowered in every sense of the word. Besides, that jerk would think twice about breaking your heart, because you have the capacity to break his skull!
5. A gun protects you and your loved ones. It is an investment we pray we’d never have to use against someone.
Probably the most important in the bunch, this is arguably something guns do better than your high-end gadgets. Yes, a phone could be used to call the police or relatives in case of an encounter, but when push comes to shove and you are left alone with an assailant, with only seconds to react… People argue that I am romanticizing these situations as they are a very rare and remote possibility. But the thing is, the frequency of these events is not the important question. The questions we should be asking are: Is it real? Could it happen to me?
The answers are clear as day: Yes, and yes, it could. And that should be enough reason for one to prepare for every contingency.
Owning a gun is not just a right, it is also coupled with responsibility. You have in your hands a tool that, as I said earlier, could either take or save lives. So be safe when you finally have one. Don’t flaunt it in public. Don’t let just anyone hold it. Take comfort in the fact that when you come home late or when you’re walking down that dark alley, you have the full capacity to defend yourself and the person next to you, or even the people around you (if you train properly with it).
Remember: Better have one and not need it, than need one and not have it!
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Janro Narag, 25, is a philosophy and legal studies graduate of the University of St. Louis Tuguegarao and a senior member of the Athena Law Moot and Debate Society at Cagayan State University College of Law, and believes that bearing arms should be a constitutional right.
