While visiting New
Orleans this summer, I noticed a sign over a storefront on Magazine Street, that
hipster's paradise and shopping mecca et. al.
I wasn’t sure exactly what the sign was advertising, but I found myself
reading it as though it were a fill-in-the-blank puzzler of sorts. The sign read, “A Girl Is A Gun”.
A Girl is a Gun…so you better get a license to use her?
A girl is a gun ….so watch your aim?
A girl is a gun …. don’t play with her if she’s loaded?
I looked up some NRA
gun safety recommendations and also found additional tips on a blog that I have
visited before and have great respect for, The Art of Manliness http://artofmanliness.com/
A girl is a gun …. wear eye and ear protection as
appropriate.
A girl is a gun … ALWAYS keep your finger off the
trigger until ready to shoot.
A girl is a gun …. when holding a gun, rest your finger on the trigger guard or along the
side of the gun. Until you are actually ready to fire, do not touch the
trigger (this seems rife with innuendo
and a little suggestive).
I thought
the sign might be advertising a hip new musical venue, or a support group for
divorced men. Maybe the NRA headquarters
for women?
It caught
my eye because I have this great aversion to guns and violence and weapons of
assorted-sized destruction. As such, I have somehow been raising a son that is
quite attracted to guns and weapons and not exactly destruction, but maybe this
particular aspect of manliness or at least power and maybe control. Some of this attraction is related to his
developing sense of self. Some of it is
just a “man” thing, and some may be just that very bit of nature in spite of
the maternal nurturing, forewarnings and peaceful promoting ad nauseum. The banning of guns and video games certainly did not help.
So what
else is a mother to do with a son that is curious about the world, intrigued
with figuring things out and making things after he figures them out? She supports and attempts to redirect. She promotes science and education over
violence, he continues to weave in questions and comments and explores the
topic gently without seeming quite transparent.
“What
would you do if I wanted to join the military?”
“I wouldn’t like it, why
would I want my son to kill people or get killed?”
“What would you do if I was
an engineer and worked for a corporation that made weapons or protective gear
to help save soldiers?”
“Oh you mean, save soldiers
from one country so they could kill someone’s sons from a different country?” Unfortunately, I do like Iron Man movies and have enjoyed a couple with this son. I sort of get the attraction. I mostly just like Robert Downey Jr.
I don’t want to be supportive of
violence or weapons. I have a hard time with war. I am not completely convinced that the wars
we have been fighting for the last 5 decades have been fought in the name of
democracy or freedom or in defense of innocent people. I might have a very different viewpoint if the
Iran-Contra scandal did not arm a few different nations only to later have our
own weapons pointed back at us. If we hadn’t helped put Gaddafi in power after supporting his removal, only to somehow determine he wasn’t really reformed
after-all. Osama Bin Laden and Sadam Hussein have both been on the 'friendlier' side of this nation at one time. I really might have a different opinion, if not for these strange actualities. I understand that our nation
offers us great freedoms, and security, but I don’t entirely believe it is
related to us sending troops to foreign nations that we have less than noble
interests in. All that aside, I want to believe in
idealistic and peaceful resolutions and I know this is more than a bit naïve
and simplistic.
I promoted his interest in creating
things. I brought him to the Maker Faire. I learned more about science and air compression. I did not initially understand
that he was making a gun, exactly. This came in time. I rationalized the benign effects of marshmallow launchers and spud guns. I was
impressed with his knowledge. (I am thrilled he wasn’t interested in
making the atom bomb.) I supported his
interest in attempting to start a science club and watched with pride as he
lead a class for middle school students in the engineering of a self-designed
prototype for air-compressed paint “guns” made from pvc pipes, tire tube valves, ball
valves and pvc epoxy. He used these “guns”
to paint on a large canvas, Jackson Pollack-style in a local Science Foundation
sponsored community event.
What surprised me more than anything,
however was watching the girls that signed up for his class. The girls outnumbered the boys 2:1. The girls that came to the community event
were also very curious to observe. Now I
am a little ashamed to point out that I was surprised at the girls
behavior. As a card-carrying feminist
of the most loving and sweet-natured variety, I had stereotyped the concept
that girls should not be attracted to weapons or, violence. And perhaps they are not. But the girls, each one, every single one,
aimed, turned the ball valve with such thrill and excitement, and launched
paint clear across the field, armed and at the ready with a new taste of power.
A grin across their faces that left
them wanting for more was obvious and a little frightening. The boys for the most part handled the
air/paint launcher with a little more seriousness and reserve. Accept for the one Rambo-type individual
that will surely be charged in the future with friendly-fire, the first one
downed or the victim of a self-inflicted wound, his excitement was connected to
something else all together-danger, not power.
I am truly hoping that my son will look
to developing his skills as an engineer and move away from the gun
fixation. (The brochure that
mysteriously appeared on my kitchen table advertising the ROTC Marine Corps tells
me otherwise.- Can I sign a commitment with MIT for a ten year college
contract, how about a mail order bride and a few other diversions?)
“The Girl is a Gun” turned out to be a
trendy new fashion boutique for
hipster types, and also the name of a psychedelic French Western film from
1971. Fashionista vs
Sandinista? As for the girls with the guns that I recently observed, hootchy mama…watch out!
What's that prayer about remembering ....Give me the strength to know what I
have the power to control or change or completely ignore and a tall glass of
red wine, please?
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