Wisconsin's Concealed Carry Law - Part I
November 1, 2011 marked the day that Wisconsin's Concealed Carry Law went into effect. This law allows anyone with a permit to carry concealed guns almost anywhere, including many public buildings.
Our congregation discussed
this bill at length the Sunday before it took effect. We concluded
that our building would be posted as a firearms free zone. Yet even
after this decision I felt distressed
and depressed.
Parker Palmer, in his latest
book, Healing the Heart of Democracy1,
says that our hearts are broken by the pain and uncertainty in our
society. He then describes two kinds of heart break. Some of us
have hearts that have been hardened by our personal experiences.
Hardened hearts, when broken, splinter into thousands of fragments
that seed our society with shards of violence.
“Others
of us are able,” as Parker says, “to stand in the gap.” These
have hearts that are able to absorb the pain and to hold the
polarized forces of society in a dynamic tension. These are people
with soul. They have hearts that are more supple than brittle.
Their hearts break open rather than splintering. People with hearts
broken open experience their pain, perhaps more deeply than those
with brittle hearts, because they are less able to participate in the
“we” verses “they” hostilities in our society. These folk
are like the Hindu man who broke up a fight, not because he sided
with one or the other of the combatants, but because it was too
painful for him to experience their antagonism and hatred.
Perhaps
this is what bothers me about the Concealed Carry Law. This law is
the natural successor to the law that allows Wisconsin citizens to
carry hand guns. (Can you imagine trying to conceal a deer hunting
rifle in your pant leg?) And hand guns, unlike hunting rifles, are
designed to kill people and not wild animals.
I
remember the argument used to promote passage of the hand gun law.
It went something like this. “If you don't legalize handguns, only
criminals will be able to carry them.” This slogan presupposes
that our society, 'the real world,' is a dangerous place filled with
'strangers' who are criminals armed with weapons. There are, of
course, some dangerous people in our society. But few of us will
encounter them. In fact most people killed by hand guns are killed
by someone they know.
So
the danger of this legislation is not that violence will increase
because citizens are carrying concealed weapons. The danger is the
fear based attitude that is promoted in the legislation. Politicians
of both parties motivate voters through fear rather than with facts.
Legislation of this type, like these hand gun laws, erodes the very
structures that we depend upon to secure our democracy. These
democratic structures are those that encourage citizens to assemble,
complete with their differences, to promote programs that support the
public good. And the 'public' here is all the people, not just those
who share one set beliefs or life styles.
I
agree with those who claim that the safety of our nation is
threatened. But I disagree with them in assessing the source of this
threat. The threat comes not from outsiders like drug lords,
organized gangs, radical Jihadists or homicidal citizens. The threat
comes from within.
When
we live our lives fearful of those who differ from ourselves, our
hearts are hardened. In tough economic times, these hardened hearts
are broken as people lose their jobs, their homes, and their savings.
When unscrupulous people, like Bernard Madoff and wall street
bankers, make millions of dollars at the expense of middle and lower
income people, hearts hardened by fear shatter. Then "We the
People" are unable to join together to deal with the crisis.
Rather we blame and strike out at one another, particularly those who
are different from ourselves. And, like a virus, this fear and
animosity races through our communities giving rise to more fear and
distrust of 'the stranger.'
Parker
Palmer2
describes how this virus of fear is a threat to our democracy. He
points out that societies function in three arenas. First, there is
the personal arena where we interact with our intimates. This is
where our basic needs are met, the need for food, shelter, love and
support. Then there is the political arena that is controlled by an
interlocking set of powerful institutions and players. This is the
arena where the formal institutions of government and commerce exist.
Finally there is the public arena where we engage non-intimate
acquaintances and strangers. This arena includes residential
neighborhoods, schools, city streets and sidewalks, voluntary
associations including religious organizations, clubs, civic and
ethnic groups, public transportation, sports and other mass
entertainment events, restaurants and coffee shops, museums and
libraries, community markets and craft fairs, schools and
universities, work places and digital media – the internet.
A
robust public arena is essential to a healthy democracy. This is
where “We the People” function. When we are threatened by those
who differ from ourselves, the public arena is weakened. Totalitarian
societies have anemic or nonexistent public arenas. In such
societies, those in power dominate the political arena and more or
less control people's private lives.
We
are experiencing alarming trends in this direction in our own
democracy3.
The richest 10% of the US population control about 73% of the
nation's wealth, with the richest 1% accounting for almost 35%. The
bottom 90% control about 27% of US wealth. The housing crash likely
had a further negative effect on on the bottom 90%, who have 65% of
their wealth tied up in their homes, compared to the top 1% who have
only 10% of their wealth comprised of housing. The actual
distribution of US wealth in 2009 placed more than 80% of total
wealth in the hands of the wealthiest 20%, with the least wealthy 40%
having virtually no share.
In
stating these statistics, I'm not arguing that all wealthy people are
greedy and manipulative. Rather, I'm arguing that the erosion of the
middle class in our society, coupled with fear of the stranger,
erodes the public arena where our democracy functions. This
strengthens the hand of those among the wealthy and powerful who wish
to manipulate our democracy for personal gain.
For
these reasons, it is important to oppose the implementation of
legislation like the Concealed Carry Law. But opposition alone is
not enough. We must also develop social practices and attitudes that
promote positive affiliations among strangers thus strengthening the
public arena. I will explore these positive potentials in part two
of this reflection.
1
I want to credit Parker Palmer's book, Healing
the Heart of Democracy
for inspiring this reflection.
2
Healing
the Heart of Democracy
p 89 & following “Life in the Company of Strangers”
The
Tools of Fear
Tao
Te Ching
Weapons are the tools of fear. A decent person will avoid them except in the direst necessity and, if compelled, will use them only with the utmost restraint....
Our
enemies are not demons
but human beings like ourselves.
The
decent person doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor do they
rejoice in victory.
How could we rejoice in victory
and
delight in the slaughter of people?
Enter a battle
gravely
with sorrow and with great compassion
as if attending
a funeral.
Source:
circa
550 BCE
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