Why are some humans so fascinated by guns? Turn on the TV and it’s everywhere.
The cultural might of the United States is dripping with the phrase, ‘shall not be infringed’ when referencing the individual’s right to keep and bear arms.
Turning to Australia, we have the Hon. Bob Katter MP. Some might say he’s a legend others might say an anachronistic example of another time.
However, Mr Katter’s push for looser gun laws and related political ephemera around encouraging young people to be trained in how to use guns raises a very important point about the psyche of this country.
Do we really want a future saturated in a renewed push towards normalising gun culture? Returning to America, one must remember the cultural power of the movies.
Clive James once described the hero of almost every major 80s blockbuster, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as looking like ‘a brown condom full of walnuts’.
Humorous an aside as it is, Schwarzenegger and guns went together in that period like wine and cheese.
Are we really that paranoid about an unnamed northern neighbour marshalling its forces and taking Australia and turning it into something other than what we have enjoyed together?
I really don’t think so. Then again, we do have the next generation Aukus nuclear-powered submarines coming sometime in the early 2040s to save us from enemies near and far.
Despite Arnie’s machismo in all those gun-toting movies we all enjoyed in summer’s past, there is the fact that we have Bob Katter, the difference being Katter is amusing and concerning at the same time.
Watching him recently holding a gun during a news interview. It made me think of a classic episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye Pierce is quoted as saying the following:
‘I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got into this war, I had a very clear understanding with the Pentagon: no guns.’
Maybe I’m incorrect for quoting two creative/cultural figures of the past, however I should end this article by tipping my conscientious objector’s hand by stating that guns are not the answer, perhaps as another figure once wrote ‘love’ is the answer.
Tim Humphries is a bitcoin and tech enthusiast turned screenwriter based in Brisbane Queensland and can be found at X @mothyspace
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