In the process of taming the wilderness of the New World by violent means, Americans absorbed and bequeathed to future generations some of the savagery that they determined to eliminate. Their purpose was to establish and maintain a civilization, but we have now lost this sense of purpose. Savagery is the product, then, not of pessimism but of despair.
The recent deadly shootings in Atlanta, Boulder, Virginia Beach, Orange, and Henrico County, a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, where a fourteen-year-old boy targeted and killed a thirteen-year-old girl, have reignited what by now is a well-rehearsed and wearisome political debate. Should the United States adopt more stringent gun control laws? Should Congress ban assault weapons, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines? These questions, repeated for about two or three weeks each time Americans witness another of these killing sprees, call to mind Alexis de Tocqueville’s observation about the nature of democratic societies. Unlike other critics of democracy, who feared that its emergence would bring perpetual strife, Tocqueville believed instead that democracy would result in the stagnation of ideas and institutions concealed behind the incessant but superficial ferment of petty minds. Nothing more clearly illustrates Tocqueville’s prophecy than the arguments of lobbyists, politicians, journalists, and intellectuals about gun rights and gun control. These discussions are, if you’ll pardon the expression, dead ends.
But strife there is and strife there continues to be. Americans have a long tradition of using guns to solve their problems—a tradition that is almost as old as using guns to create them. These incidents are only the latest examples. It has become an expression of a peculiarly American form of frustration, anger, and madness to shoot innocent men, women, and children. An influential and persuasive minority of Americans is determined to assert the constitutional right to own firearms, even at the expense of public welfare and good sense. State and federal lawmakers have for the most part yielded to this pressure and acquiesced in these demands. It seems ever to be thus.
History never repeats itself, although historical conditions sometimes do, as Ramsay MacMullen’s admirable book, Soldier and Citizen in the Later Roman Empire, demonstrates. Writing nearly 60 years ago, Dr. MacMullen expounded a thesis that ought still to command our attention. “Partly as a result, but more because of the violence of the later Empire,” he wrote, “civilians had to arm themselves for their own protection. Civilian turned soldier, soldier turned civilian, in a rapprochement to a middle ground of waste and confusion.” Americans may never willingly give up their absolute right to bear arms without restrictions of any kind. But they ought at least to recognize that the authors of the Second Amendment would be appalled that in the United States an epidemic of violence, much of it mindless and random, has induced people to carry firearms to ensure their own protection. Self-defense it may be. Freedom it is not.
There is a darker reality to contemplate. Violence, even the sort of horrific gun violence that we repeatedly experience, may after all be only one symptom of a more acute disease against which legislation is impotent. Pundits and critics, including me, have lamented that a culture of violence in America is endemic. That analysis misrepresents the essence of the problem, which is not violence but savagery. A Good Samaritan may use violence to protect another from harm or to rescue another from danger. Even when it yields frightening and dreadful results, violence implies a brutal affirmation of life. Assassins act to remove an oppressive leader. Revolutionaries arise to eliminate and replace a despotic regime. Such efforts may be irresponsible and misguided, and they may yield a multitude of unintended consequences, but those who carry them out are of the conviction that violence in the end will bring greater justice, freedom, and peace.
Violence may thus be informed by intelligence as well as by emotion, and need not be an end in itself. Although perhaps an ineradicable facet of the American character, violence may originate in the naïve confidence, also part of the American character, that men and women can once and for all make the world a better place. Savagery is different in its genesis and its intent. Savagery embraces death. It reveals and animates the desire to inflict pain for the sake of inflicting pain. It seeks to humiliate by reducing its victims to inhuman objects, things that are of no importance and can be easily abused, broken, and discarded.
Americans may have resorted to violent means to tame the wilderness of the New World. In the process, they absorbed and bequeathed to future generations some of the savagery that they determined to eliminate. Their resort to violence against nature and those who impeded their progress developed from impatience. Whatever the cost of subduing the wilderness, these exertions had purpose: the struggle to establish and maintain a civilization. It is the sense of purpose that we have lost, that we have, perhaps, squandered. Savagery is the product, then, not of pessimism but of despair. It is hatred empty of meaning. As convinced as I am of the necessity to enact sensible gun control legislation, I am equally convinced that, however well-crafted, no law can address a savagery born of nihilism.
The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
The featured image is “Smoke of a .45” (1908) by Charles Marion Russell (1864–1926) and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. It has been brightened for clarity.
A misdiagnosis, IMHO. David Courtwright, in his book “Violent Land: Single Men and Social Disorder From the Frontier to the Inner City” identifies the core issue: “ Insofar as young, single men are any society’s most troublesome and unruly citizens, America had a built-in tendency toward violence and disorder…These troublesome elements – the surplus of young men, widespread bachelorhood, sensitivity about honor, racial hostility, heavy drinking, religious indifference, group indulgence in vice, ubiquitous armament, and inadequate law enforcement – were concentrated on the frontier.” The “violent lands” were transferred to the inner city through deliberate political choices, and the cultural perversion of virtus. Illegal “ubiquitous armament” is a contributor, but purposeless young men are your nihilists.
I think you completely misunderstand the Second Amendment and gun owners in general. We’re the majority as can be seen from gun and ammo sales. Those who buy are defending. We are not revolutionary. That said, this is why we’re not shout-out be a democracy, but a deliberative republic.
Mr. Malvasi,
It’s difficult (for me) to discern your point in this article. Are you for, or against, additional “gun control”? I think pretty clearly “FOR”? You state that a minority asserts the right to own firearms “at the expense of public welfare and good sense” ? So guns are the problem , not people? YET – you then (appropriately) lament violence, savagery and nihilism. I wholeheartedly agree that these three scourges are the problem, not guns. If half of society believes their own system is inherently flawed and must be destroyed, unless their “solutions” are implemented,….while the other half does not, we have a big problem. The Democrat Party seems to want to re-invent America, and they will apparently tolerate, or explain away, any amount of violence, savagery and nihilism to get it done. My America is not violent, savage or nihilistic, but I feel like we are being dragged into the world you envision in your article by a vocal minority of progressives, who have no idea what they are “progressing” toward. I suspect you feel the same (This is a Conservative website), but I get the feeling that you regard America as irredeemably violent, savage & nihilistic? Strange…….
As always these arguments, gun control, racism, immigration and so on present only one half of the argument. How many lives do persons owning guns save? You must think about both sides of the equation.
What I get from this article is that Americans have created a culture of violence because somehow that’s in the american DNA and the various incidents of gun violence the author cites are a result of our violent nature. This is so general as to be not worth stating. People usually have some reason for shooting off a gun—self defense, mental illness, shoot an animal, revenge etc. The situations under which shootings occur are not all just weird random acts of a culture of violence. I’d have to agree with most of the comments above. The author seems completely ignorant about gun use, gun owners and the reasons for many of the acts of violence popularly reported on the media.
Mr. M, The only uptick in savagery as of late has been of the unchained leftist variety, which, despite fears, is relatively contained to just a few areas. In the same “blue states” that have the highest proportion of violence, they are further releasing criminals onto the streets, and pursuing other dubious agendas that contribute to violence. However, in spite of such things, there has been an overall lowering of violence over the last few decades. Guns, in the hands of citizens, stop far more crime (usually without being fired) than they enable. These statistics are readily available from a number of reliable official sources-if we know about these things at all, we know it from these sources (FBI, computer canvassing various news agencies and state government sites, etc.). I would suggest, that an a priori distaste for weapons, combined with a an emotional sensitivity to televised, hyped tragedy in a 24 hour news cycle, have clouded your view. While these incidences are disgusting, they would have been regional stories at best a century ago, with far less impact. Also, nearly all the biggest mass killings in the last decade occur in countries with draconian anti gun laws (France, anyone?). However, even granting your premise that America is a violent culture, I have to ask, “in comparison to what?” There are stagnant and passive cultures in Europe who are importing their violence, and their are dangerous and hegemonic cultures, particularly in Asia, that are exporting theirs, I prefer America, guns, warts. and all.
We have a 2nd Amendment which causes our government to realize that every American is capable of resistence. As an unhappy side effect, a few evil people abuse this freedom and kill their fellow man.
But in 20th century European savagery amassed a body count equivalent to 1000 years of American gun-culture. But Americans are the savages?
I was attempting to keep an open mind, but then I read, “It has become an expression of a peculiarly American form of frustration, anger, and madness to shoot innocent men, women, and children.”
I challenge the author to substantiate that statement with facts that support that position.
Others have been so articulate pointing out so many failures in the author’s logic. Even impeccable logic fails when there is a foundation of misinformation and echo chamber-produced “facts”.
What raises TIC above all other online forums is the deep historical knowledge and wisdom borrowed from thinkers that spread across THOUSANDS of years. I loath Ameri-centric though especially when that perspective ignores the vast beauty of the culture when Christian vale’s and principles guided our culture. Witnessing that the readers of TIC exhibit the same knowledge and wisdom as the writers gives me hope and pride.
Thank you TIC staff and leadership for making this forum what it is!!!
I don’t buy a word of it, but I honor Imaginative Conservative for having the gumption to post an article sure to be disagreed with by much of its readership.
“…reducing its victims to inhuman objects,things that are of no importance and can be easily abused,broken,and discarded. “ This is done legally in the U.S. and elsewhere with no firearms. It’s called ABORTION!