Be mindful of matters nation really should fear

While I am focused on ultimate threat to humans — climate change (which encompasses most issues, such as environmental justice, health care, immigration, etc.) — there are other significant issues, gun control being one. Hoping to spur some action by those purportedly advocating for gun control, I organized a protest at the Sept. 14-15 Fayetteville gun show. I had hoped for fellow protesters. But I was the only one that weekend, protesting alone for 16 hours.

I received many middle fingers and other negative comments. While some gun enthusiasts stopped to discuss the issue, most detractors failed to understand what the protest was about, even though the signs I created were clear:

• Universal Background Checks: Now

• Let CDC Study Gun Violence

• Human Life > Guns

• Gun Obsession = Mental Illness Most reasonable humans would agree with the first three, even though many mistakenly stated universal background checks exist. Those who don’t agree are likely described by the fourth: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders defines obsession as “[r]ecurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance as intrusive and inappropriate, and that cause marked anxiety and distress.” As an example, one detractor said, “I carry a gun so someone does not impose their will on me.” I asked him whether he was bullied in high school, and how many times someone has attempted to “impose their will on” him. He gave no response. He (and every person) should be more concerned about the oli(oil)garchs (e.g., the remaining Koch brother, Harold Hamm), the current administration, fringe media (e.g., FOX News, MSNBC), fringe groups (e.g., NRA), et al.

Despite the clarity of my signs, many detractors said I wanted their guns taken away (see definition of paranoia). That is the essential problem — unfounded fear and/or extreme responses or defensiveness — with debates about gun control and other topics. If one voices any pro-gun control opinion, the oligarchs, et al., tell gun enthusiasts the government is trying to take away their guns. And those enthusiasts believe that spin and become more extreme or mutate into gun-obsessed folk because they don’t, won’t or can’t critically think.

For example, commenting on a universal background check bill: “This extreme gun-control bill will make criminals out of law-abiding Americans. It will also make it harder for good people to defend themselves and their families,” added Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA, the legislative arm of the group. “Criminals, on the other hand, will continue to get their firearms the way they always have — through the black market, theft and straw purchases. Forcing more government paperwork and additional fees on good people trying to exercise a constitutional right will do nothing to make Americans safer.”

It is unfortunate people live in a mindset of irrational fear. Be afraid of what is real, scientifically proven — climate change — not what the fear-mongering peddlers spout to accomplish their agenda of polarization, greed and distraction.