After the Sandy Hook massacre, the Connecticut state
legislature has started hearings on gun ownership. The shock and outrage
generated by the shooting rampage were just enough to put laws regulating the
ownership of powerful “assault rifles” on the agenda. It’s anyone’s guess what
it would take to move beyond that. Predictably, opponents of new gun
regulations far outnumbered proponents among the politicized crowd in front of
the state capitol; and – as one gun opponent noted – men far outnumbered women.
This is a curious correlation which is not always noted.
Yes, the mother of the Sandy Hook shooter was a
passionate gun lover. And brave women like Sarah Palin are not far behind. Yet,
statistically, it would be fair to say that more guys than women are attracted
to guns, particularly to military-grade assault weapons. I am sure Google would
quickly corroborate this. Why this gender imbalance? Some could say men are,
well, more macho, and guns are a potent symbol of male power – which seems to
have fallen on hard times lately. But this would be gender stereotyping, and we
want to avoid that when possible.
If you ask some of the men picketing the Connecticut
state capitol, it turns out they have a different explanation. It seems they
are better equipped to think straight, as they are immune to “knee-jerk
reactions.” Instead, they have considered judgment – as exemplified by the
father of a 6-year-old boy shot dead a couple of weeks earlier who testified
inside. This is the way he reasoned: “I believe in a
few simple gun laws. I think we have more than enough on the books. We should
hold people individually accountable for their actions. The problem is not gun
laws. The problem is a lack of civility.”
The logical conclusion to
this line of thought would be to say: all that is needed to reduce gun-related
deaths is to curb incivility. Then even the ownership of shoulder-mounted
anti-aircraft or anti-tank missiles – and why not of drones and land-bound killer
robots – wouldn’t pose a major hazard to public safety in a free society. To
which I would respond: good luck with that project, particularly among the less
fair gender.
Meanwhile, I am tempted
to offer another provocative theory. There is some research indicating that the
excessively analytical, “left-brained” thinking – as exemplified by extreme gun
advocates – can easily shade into delusion, be it at the clinical and
sub-clinical level. For complex biocultural reasons, men could be more
susceptible to this syndrome. And this heightened susceptibility could affect
they functioning in other areas where the boundary between delusion and sound
judgment is less clear. Unless I am again parroting entrenched stereotypes,
even when they are not exactly flattering to the gendered category under which
I fall.
