As always, the media is full of lies – of omission, commission, and half-truths – about weapons, people, and society. Here are a few to watch out for.

The lies are intended to enflame fear and motivate those who are naive, who believe celebrities, politicians, and those who prey upon others. Consider these:

1. It is possible to disarm an entire population, including criminals, and therefore end gun violence.
2. Gun violence (in the sense of aggressive violence against others by people using guns) always increases as the number of guns in circulation increases.
3. Guns impact people in a psychological, mystical or spiritual way which causes them to become aggressive and willing – even eager – to attack people.
4. Violence – including killing – will go away if guns go away – or at least be greatly reduced if guns are greatly reduced.
5. Passing a law makes things happen or stop happening.
6. Organizations and procedures for gun registration and licensing will never be seriously hacked or corrupted.
7. The US Constitution (and all similar State constitutions) only protect the right to own weapons available at the time those provisions went into effect.
8. The right of people to keep and bear arms only exists because it is part of the Constitution(s).
9. The 2nd Amendment applies only to organized militias like the National or State Guards.
10. Unlike rights such as free speech and free assembly, the right to keep and bear arms can be licensed, permitted, limited, and subject to the whims of any legislative body, government executive, or black-robed jurist.
11. All human rights, especially the right to own and carry guns, may be reduced or eliminated by “democratic means” – a popular vote of the people (majority of people actually voting) or their legislative representatives (majority of a seated quorum).
12. The “so-called right to keep and bear arms” is racist and was invented to support white supremacy.
13. More people die because there is a gun in their home than are protected from crime because there is a gun in their home.

So many more could be added, but these spread across the gambit. It is claimed that the United States have a greater homicide rate than any other nation because we don’t ban private ownership of guns, and that we are therefore evil, even primitive and outdated.

The fear of guns (hoplophobia) and the hatred of guns (hoploclastism) are psychological conditions, no different than arachnophobia or even agoraphobia. Hopolophobes and hoploclasts need our help – and honestly, our pity. Their lives and the lives of people around them are stunted by their irrational fears. Indeed, sometimes their lives are prematurely ended because they do not understand the need for an armed society and the need of arms to protect themselves against predators: animal AND human.