The headlong growth of private gun ownership in this country has reached a fever pitch.
“Do you have a spare gun I could borrow?” My father nonchalantly asked me when he was visiting last week. Though he is a decorated Vietnam combat veteran who clearly knows about guns, my father is decidedly “not a gun guy” as he puts it.
Other than helping me purchase a .22 caliber single-shot rifle when I was 14 years old, I do not remember my father owning a gun or even handling very many of them. Needless to say, his request came as a shock to me.
Then, just a couple of days ago, knowing I had spent most of my adult life behind a gun, another family member asked me; “Do you think you could help me get out the shotgun and show me [how to use it]?” She is a self-described, “liberal” and not a “gun person”. This encounter was much closer to home and the question was equally as shocking.
Both she and my father explained that they live in rural areas and are concerned about recent events involving right-wing militias and other gun-toting extremists. Even more perplexing is the fact that both have lived in the same area for years without any problems.
Now they want guns for protection? What changed?
A Uniquely American Arms Race and Militarization of Law Enforcement
As I mulled over these sobering interactions with my close family, I realized that America has been engaged in an arms race without most of us realizing it. What’s more, both this decorated combat veteran’s and a “liberal’s” simple request represented a critical new phase in a uniquely American arms race.
I could not help but see some striking similarities between our homegrown arms race and the now, nearly forgotten Cold War-era nuclear arms race. The Cold War arms race saw both the United States and the former Soviet Union engage in an unthinkable race to build more nuclear weapons than the other.
Over more than three decades both countries amassed massive stockpiles of city leveling nuclear weapons. At the height of the Cold War, it was estimated that the United States could deliver more than 20,000 and the Soviet Union more than 11,000 nuclear weapons. At one point a Stockholm research group estimated that this amount of nuclear weapons could wipe out humanity 690 times.
Similarly, but not as potentially devastating for the rest of the world, Americans have been amassing stockpiles of guns and ammunition for about the same amount of time. According to the Switzerland based Small Arms Survey (SAS), Americans now own nearly half (46%) of the 857 million civilian-owned firearms in the world. This means there are more guns than people in this country.
The next closest country to the United State’s 393 million civilian-owned guns is India; at 71.1 million. But their population is nearly double the U.S. SAS reports that in 2018, overall, gun ownership is up 32 percent compared to just ten years ago.
In response to this massive stockpile of civilian-owned guns, American law enforcement has attempted to keep pace. Ark Valley Voice has previously reported that law enforcement has also expanded its complement of arms and armament. This includes making assault rifles standard issue for most street officers and even procuring surplus military equipment to help keep some advantage over the potentially heavily armed citizens and militia groups.
On top of that, just as in the Cold War, technology has been a significant factor in the current arms race. As the Cold War arms race reached its zenith, both countries built ever more destructive and better targeted ballistic missiles. Similarly, the past decade has seen dramatic technological advancement in guns, armor, and ammunition.
Those advancements have not only increased the lethality but also the effectiveness of all those things. Ark Valley Voice previously reported on some of these technological advancements, particularly among assault rifles and ammunition.
In the end, however, most leaders and scientists during the Cold War came to a logical and foreboding conclusion. Their view; it did not matter which side had more weapons or which side could target them better. If these weapons were ever used on a large scale, both sides would be obliterated. As a result, President John F. Kennedy’s Secretary of Defense Robert Macnamara helped develop the military doctrine and phrase “Mutually Assured Destruction” or simply MAD.
Now, as 2020 grinds on, and more and more “non-gun’” people want to “borrow” or purchase guns just to feel safe, it appears some are concluding that our domestic mutually assured destruction may be rapidly approaching. The Cold War leaders came to realize that more weapons did not assure sovereign safety. At some point, could perhaps the domestic situation in which we find ourselves wake us to the same reality?
Great article. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I own a gun and have for several years, but I did not think I would need it until I saw the Chaffee County Patriots page pop up on Facebook.
We have armed radicals in this county showing up regularly at our local parks, with guns in tow. I do not trust these people to use their weapons properly. All they are doing in instilling fear in their local neighbors, and we’re turning around and getting our guns out, or buying them for the first time.
It’s ridiculous. When will it end? Only when we’ve all shot each other, over a manufactured threat via Qanon and our unstable president?
The CCP group is getting some interesting press from people who apparently only know what others have heard from others. AVV claims it belongs to a journalistic society who would probably frown on reporting third hand information as if it was found to be true. My gut instinct is that AVV is simply trying to drum up its own circulation. Pretty self serving. Too bad.
A lot of us are scared that the violence epidemic will eventually spread across the country, including Chaffee County. The community is the last resort for protection, especially given law enforcement’s inability to cope. I think that is what we are seeing. Check this out for us since you are in the journalist profession. That would be a good service to our community.
Again, thanks for reading and commenting.
I am curious about the third hand information. Are you saying we published unverified third hand information? Please cite that information because I go to great lengths in order to ensure the information I provide is factual and verified. I do not want to contribute to the deluge of misinformation promulgated on social media. It is imperative that we all have to constantly rebuke misinformation. Because I am susceptible too, I welcome any misinformation you can identify.
Also, what do you mean that the community is the last resort for protection? Why do you think law enforcement is unable to cope? Aren’t law enforcement officers part of the community and aren’t they accountable to the people. Admittedly, I have only been a journalist for a short time so I have a lot to learn, but I wonder what do we need protection from? Why do we need all the guns like the article suggests?
Stephen — thanks for a thoughtful and well-written article. I have had the same experience with a 80-yr-old neighbors pulling out their guns “just to be safe.” This isn’t the America I grew up in and lived 85 percent of my adult life. They can’t hear, they can’t see all that well, but are pulling out their guns. Frankly, it is horrifying and beyond dangerous. Untrained (any many trained) individuals with guns, shoot first then check details. Too late. My best example is the guy who tried to shoot the Jeep driving through a protest in Aurora, missed the jeep entirely and shoots two protesters. Or a Walmart in Thornton where numerous shoppers pull out a gun to “protect or stop” a shooter, but the shooter walks calmly out of the store and law enforcement have all these people with guns out. NO HELP
I’ve read the statistics before that people in the U.S. own more guns as private individuals than most of the rest of the world combined, and for sure if you only tally “civilized” (now in question) countries. Again, shocking, horrifying, frightening, not helpful.
Good observations. The story ignores the reason these historically mild people are being driven to their closets. Did you know two more police were shot tonight in Louisville?
Thanks for reading and engaging with others, Alan.
May I ask. Who are the “historically mild people”? Additionally, please expand on how the police officers who were shot relate to this topic? Thank you.
Respectfully,
SH
Did you hear about the Salida police officers that were shot? Yeah, me neither.
It is sad to see the constant, baseless fear that some people live with as a result of the misleading news that they watch faithfully. I honestly feel sorry for them, as it must be stressful to live in constant fear of some non-existent “radical Marxist BLM nut” jumping out of a bush to stab them.
Chaffee County isn’t Portland, and even in Portland, the protests have taken place in a very small section of a city that is larger than Colorado Springs.
Portland isn’t burning down. The country isn’t burning down. Here in Chaffee county, pretty much nothing is happening, which we should be proud of and try to encourage. Bringing your weapons to a political event in Chaffee county is completely unnecessary, and a step in the wrong direction.
Stephen — thanks for a thoughtful and well-written article. I have had the same experience with a 80-yr-old neighbors pulling out their guns “just to be safe.” This isn’t the America I grew up in and lived 85% of my adult life. They can’t hear, they can’t see all that well, but are pulling out their guns. Frankly, it is horrifying and beyond dangerous. Untrained (any many trained) individuals with guns, shoot first then check details. Too late. My best example is the guy who tried to shoot the Jeep driving through a protest in Aurora, missed the jeep entirely and shoots two protesters. Or a Walmart in Thornton where numerous shoppers pull out a gun to “protect or stop” a shooter, but the shooter walks calmly out of the store and law enforcement have all these people with guns out. NO HELP
I’ve read the statistics before that people in the U.S. own more guns as private individuals than most of the rest of the world combined, and for sure if you only tally “civilized” (now in question) countries. Again, shocking, horrifying, frightening, not helpful.