Firepower

In one of my first posts in this series, The Fundamental Nature of Power, I introduced the issues involved in wielding power by discussing my relationship with a high horsepower leaf blower (the big machine). Yes, it allows me to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time, but I use it more judiciously and much less frequently now that I’ve witnessed its tendency to blast the car’s paint job, peel carpets of moss from the earth, and obliterate tender plants that don’t get out of its way. In other words, wielding power is potentially dangerous. Care needs to be taken to ensure that harm does not occur. But power is seductive and addictive as well. We can easily find ourselves lured into situations where we can get a lot done with very little effort at great risk to ourselves or others or the world. Our relationship with firearms is a perfect example of all these issues coming together.

A firearm, pound for pound, packs an incredible amount of power. Whereas my big machine can clear the lawn of leaves in just a couple of hours, it requires a fairly involved dance on my part that gives me quite a workout. A handgun, on the other hand, can be used to kill someone fairly consistently from 25 meters away—in an instant. And though I do have to take care not to kill innocent plants and insects and paint jobs with my big machine, I have to take care not to kill people or myself with a handgun.

When I say that power is addictive, I mean it quite literally. As with any other addiction, when we have power, we want more and more. I should also note that, when we have power, we want to use it. When somebody gets a powerful sports car, they want to take it out onto the highway and see how fast it will go. When people find themselves in positions of power, they start searching for all the levers they might pull to get exactly what they want. And when we have a handgun within reach, the lure to use it is strong.

It seems to me that this lure to use our guns has percolated up from this inner urge to now become codified into law such that our urge might become manifest. Let me explain. I grew up with the understanding that if you feared for your safety because someone was breaking down your front door, then it was incumbent upon you to simply slip out the back door. Yes, breaking into houses is wrong, but killing people is wrong as well unless there is no way of avoiding it.

Now, however, we have the so-called castle doctrine in place in many jurisdictions. If the castle doctrine applies where I live, then I have no requirement to retreat if threatened in my home. I may use my firearm with impunity. I may kill another if I so desire, even if I could have very easily just slipped out the back door. The lure to use that gun sitting there is just that much stronger now. And so we have people shooting through front doors at strangers who knock seeking help or directions. We have people shooting at cars when a stranger pulls up in their driveway. Yes, the lure to use is strong.

Stand-your-ground laws also make it easier for this lure to use to become manifest. Consider the killing of Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman simply needed to harass Martin into confronting him. Once he did, lo and behold, Zimmerman was under no obligation to retreat. He was then “justified” in using his concealed weapon to kill Martin right then and there. It would seem that the way to get away with murder is to find a way to provoke a physical altercation which you can then end with your concealed firearm. The lure to use is strong.

As you know, my experiences due to my proximity to the Ferguson Uprising opened my eyes to quite a lot that I’d been blind to all my life up until then. You might say that it was on the streets of Ferguson that I became “woke.” The match that lit the fire in Ferguson was the unnecessary killing of an unarmed Black youth by a White police officer. The officer could have called for backup, but he didn’t. He needlessly precipitated a confrontation which then made him “reasonably fear for his safety.” That’s all it took to justify murder. And if you think all that Ferguson went through would prompt a bit of reflection about policing in the U.S. that might lead to fewer officer-caused deaths, you’d be wrong. The lure to use is strong.

Number of people shot to death by the police in the United States from 2017 to 2024, by race

Has there ever been a weapon made that hasn’t been used? The neutron bomb is the only one that comes to mind. Pretty much anything goes in a world where the most powerful decide when the “rules of war” should be enforced. We see it in Gaza where hospitals are being blown up, aid workers are being killed, and people are being starved to death. We see it in Ukraine where indiscriminate bombing has caused about 15% of all Ukrainian deaths to be civilians. We see it with our notoriously indiscriminate U.S. drone strikes that take out families and wedding parties—and maybe a few bad guys along the way. The lure to use is strong.

Yes, wielding power is potentially dangerous, and seductive and addictive as well. We live in a world awash in power. Most importantly, though, we live in a world awash in power differentials. Thus, the thirst for the violence of firepower seems almost palpable. The lure to use is just too strong.

Power, Practice, and Peace logo

This post is in the Power, Practice, and Peace series.

Find a running list of all posts in this series by clicking here.

 

 

Images

Pistolet automatique modèle 1935 S on display at Musée de l'Armée by Rama via:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pistol_model_1935_S-2003.9.1-IMG_7418-black.jpg

Number of people shot to death by the police in the United States from 2017 to 2024, by race courtesy of Statistica via:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/

Copyright 2025 by Mark Robert Frank