To the editor:
Merriam-Webster defines a fetish as “…an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion.”
It seems to me that many people fetish over guns.
Now they want to create “sanctuaries” for them. Van Buren, apparently, has now become a Second Amendment sanctuary in the state of Maine. A Second Amendment sanctuary is, according to Wikipedia, “.. a state, county or locality in the United States that has adopted laws or resolutions that oppose, or purport to prohibit or impede, the enforcement of certain gun control measures.”
Let me state at the outset that I believe gun fetishism is a cult, and like all cults, it is based on fear, ignorance, power, and many other human psychological pathologies and weaknesses.
But why gun worship? I think it’s because guns exude power, perhaps giving their owners and carriers the allusion of invincibility, the feeling that nothing can harm them. It is also a subtle form of bullying, as open carry exemplifies. There are many more reasons for the worship and idolization of guns, none of which I can adequately cover here.
Nothing good can come of Second Amendment sanctuaries which, if the logic is allowed to play out, will eventually become communities of fully armed citizens ready for war, where citizens are all allowed to openly carry fully automatic weapons into stores, schools, churches, homes and an occasional bar. Human nature, being what it is, will make sure of that.
Why a town like Van Buren would want to become a Second Amendment sanctuary is beyond logical comprehension. Something that can become totally uncontrollable to become a part of everyday life, where drugs, alcohol and mental illness have no way of being controlled lawfully, is a path to madness and insanity, not to mention total breakdown of a community.
Cults are dangerous. The love of guns and the irrational worship of them is a slow path down a dark and destructive future.
James P. Chasse
St. Agatha
