A Buddhist Perspective on Access to Guns

How can we make sense out of the senseless? When a deranged young man opens fire killing innocent people, what lessons can we take away that can give meaning to the lost lives? Learning something new or deepening our understanding seems to be the best way to honor those who've suffered the most. I'd like to offer some thoughts from a Buddhist perspective.

Events unfold largely due to causes and conditions. An event like this does not happen in a vacuum. An unbalanced person with paranoid delusions, with easy access to guns, immersed in a culture of hatred and violence, whipped up by a media hungry for sensational news, given messages that a politician is threatening his well-being and should be targeted, can produce the tragedy we're dealing with now. All of those factors were likely at play. To only blame the young man's mental stability and simply say, "Oh, he was nuts," misses the point. Our country spends 60 percent of its budget on the military and more than the next dozen nations combined. Is it just a coincidence that we have so many civilian gun killings? Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik sarcastically commenting on the easy access to guns said, "What will be next -- Uzis in kids' cribs?" Yet, we were still shocked.

Every human being wants to feel safe and have peace. That's a tall order in a culture that glorifies violence. Gun rights groups are now proposing legislation that would require the Arizona Department of Public Safety to provide firearms training to state legislators. Would that have protected Gabrielle Giffords? As Martin Lither King pointed out:

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that."

The Buddha similarly taught, "Hatred never ceases by hatred. Hatred only ceases by love. This is an ancient and eternal law."

When the news about the shootings first came out, many assumed that right wing conspirators were behind it. That conclusion led to outrage. Later, when it became obvious that the killer was mentally unstable, the outrage lessened a bit, at least toward the suspect, because he was clearly confused. Even though what he was doing made sense to him, he was ignorant of his actions on some level because he was out of touch with reality.

In Buddhism, ignorance has an even broader definition. One aspect of it is not truly understanding the karmic consequences of our actions. Another is lack of awareness as to where happiness really lies. Basic understanding of karma states very simply that actions which come from greed, hatred or ignorance lead to suffering. Actions based in generosity, kindness and wisdom lead to happiness. After his enlightenment, the Buddha was motivated to teach because of the ignorance he saw: although everyone wants to be happy, most people are acting in ways that lead to more suffering.

Jesus' famous statement on the cross was based on this same understanding: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He saw that, although on one level they knew very well what they were doing, they didn't understand who he was or the consequences of their actions because their minds were colored by hate and fear.

The real villain in this story is not Jared Loughner. It's not the media. And it's not the gun rights advocates. The real villain is ignorance. Because of ignorance, people project their fear and turn those who are different into enemies -- both in their minds and in actuality. This is the history of war, as Sam Keen brilliantly pointed out in Faces of the Enemy. Once you demonize the "other" they become less than human and you can inflict pain on them without guilt or shame.

Clamoring for more access to guns because you genuinely want to feel safer is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. And those politicians who seem to know what they're doing as they spew vitriol, consciously inciting and provoking others by making an opponent a target, are simply pyromaniacs enthralled by the fire of conflict and power. That, too, is ignorance in the Buddhist sense because, although it might seem to have a purpose, in the end it will not lead to less suffering.

Right now, this tragedy is capturing our attention. Can anything good come from it? Unfortunately, Columbine and the shooting spree at Virginia Tech had little effect on the access to guns by anyone including the mentally unstable. The NRA is stronger than ever. And the cowboy mindset in this country, from our military budget to Second Amendment advocates, is still entrenched in our psyche. The response of two congressmen to the Arizona tragedy was to announce that they would be carrying guns from now on. Not exactly good modeling for non-violence. As long as media is salivating over stories that frighten and outrage us, it's unlikely that the level of public discourse will favor voices that speak to our nobler qualities. As one friend puts it, "At this point in time we are in a race between fear and consciousness."

A story like this affects us all. But rather than hoping it's a wakeup call that magically turns down the hateful rhetoric and makes our society safer, I believe what's needed is a personal inquiry. Do you get outraged and wish ill will on those who have a different political viewpoint than yours? Do you feel uplifted when they're the target of ridicule?

A friend who shared his reflections about the shootings said it made him ask himself, "How do I show up in this culture?" We need to stop and feel into it -- the pain, the fear, the anger, the confusion -- and ask ourselves: "Where does this take me? What's the wisest response internally and externally?" The answers from the past aren't quite sufficient. Something else is needed. This is the time to ask ourselves how spirituality can help when a new response is called for.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote,

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Each of us has love and hatred within us. The more we can be aware of how our own anger and ill will colors our thoughts, words and actions, the greater the chance for real transformation within ourselves. That transformation can lead to genuinely understanding how the confusion of an individual or a group could create greater pain and sorrow for themselves and others. When we can see the real villain as ignorance, we can stop demonizing "the other side." Then our words and actions, based in clarity and compassion, minus the hate, will be more effective and be part of a larger transformation in human consciousness.

James Baraz is a co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught the online "Awakening Joy" course since 2003. To learn more about the upcoming 2011 course, visit Awakeningjoy.info.

 

Comments

[Ron Fontaine]

08:55 AM on 01/30/2011

You see this all the time - someone kills someone with a gun and those who are unfamiliar with guns think "we need to get rid of the guns!"

The sad fact is, in the USA more people die every year from honeybee stings than guns. Do we lobby for the elimination of honeybees?

Many people use cars as weapons, killing many thousands of people every day due to angry driving, inattention, etc. Do we therefore lobby against car ownership because cars are killing so many innocent people? I think not. And I am sure you agree with me on that.

Likewise, then, why do you attack gun ownership? If you do, you are committing an error in logic.

The world is a dangerous place because that is the nature of things. You do not make it safer by taking rights, such as gun ownership rights or the right to drive cars, away from good decent people who use guns and cars wisely - 99.9999999% of guns owners and car owners are NOT killers of people.

[marymacdon]

08:41 PM on 01/19/2011

This is a good article, but one sentence stands out for me. "When the news about the shootings first came out, many assumed right wing conspirators were behind it." Why assume this? Later in the article, the author wisely counsels against demonizing those whose views are different from ours. He would do well to take his own advice.

[Deborah Henry Hintze]

02:54 PM on 01/17/2011

Thank you, James, for being a positive influence in my life for the last 28 years, and for helping us to understand the cause of violence in our society and in ourselves. It seems that inquiring minds will help us to grow out of ignorance, and to find peace and harmony. Your article is a very fine tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.

[MBurn]

12:18 PM on 01/16/2011

I like how you move from the obvious delusions of the killer, to delusion (and therefore violence) as it exists in more normal people, and how, in turn, that force in our culture may have caused this particular man's unfortunate actions.
It's encouraging to see people come together around an event, and the melting of some of the barriors between us become more than a nice idea some people hold, although sad it takes a tragedy like this--which I suspect will be quickly forgotten-- to kindle the sense that we are one human family. Perhaps that is the "sense out of the senseless", because senseless, in its larger meaning, for me, suggests an aspect of equanimity: that this world is so large and complicated, and death and many of our fears just a natural part of life on a much larger timescale than our 75 years-or-so is focused on, and change in civilization larger than just the future of America...If there is meaning in senselessness, it is learning to respond without harming, with simple friendliness and connection, in our own lives, and days, as they roll by. It is the sense of the longview, and the power of one human living even one day well, that I think is missing in this society (or is it? those husbands saving their wives...), and is a kind of unconcious helplessness that fuels such messy and unintelligent--even ridiculous (...Palin...)-- politics.

[Josh Sumitta Hudson]

09:53 AM on 01/16/2011

As a Buddhist, I would like to offer the following--- the problem isn’t guns but people. A gun is no different than a knife or a brick. It is an object whose purpose changes depending on the person holding the object. Addressing the issue of guns is to ignore the problem-- why people are using them the way that they do. Mr. Gifford was mentally unstable and there was no system to help him. The nation still stigmatizes mental health and so they shy away from dealing with people’s behavioral health problems.

Perhaps if someone had done something to help this man when he was obviously in mental anguish, this would have been avoided. There were plenty of signs: the first time he dealt with the congresswoman, his friends, his drug use, his dismissal from college, his inability to join the Armed Forces, etc.

We had a horrible shooting here in Pittsburgh about a year ago. He shot a room full of women at an L.A. Fitness. He gave so many hints on his blog, at work and to his friends. No one noticed until he pulled a gun.

Guns are the last declaration of “I will be noticed. I am not well.” So perhaps we should become more mindful and act before violence and not after attack the tool instead of the problem.

[xristy]

04:07 AM on 01/17/2011

As a Buddhist, both people and guns are a problem. A gun is different in considerable degree to a rock or a knife. Your point about a lack of social infrastructure to help us take care of ourselves is well taken, and just as important is to understand that we create the causes and conditions for increased instability among ourselves by making readily available not only increasingly toxic speech, but also increasingly devastating weapons.

[Atomicjim]

01:40 AM on 01/16/2011

I'm a Buddhist; I also own guns. The Buddha said, according to the Dali Lama, that sometimes it is necessary to harm or even kill an individual who threatens the welfare of many. If I had been at the Safe-way in Tucson, whether I was armed or not, I would have tried to stop the killer any way I could in order to stop his slaughter of innocent people, even if it meant harming or killing him. Would I have done it in anger? I don't know. I can only hope I would have done it out of compassion for those he was harming, but I can't say that for sure. There are thing we only know if faced with that particular circumstance.

[John Stearley]

12:17 AM on 01/16/2011

No amount of non-violence will stop the crazies from killing people. It is true that unarmed people stopped Loughner, but only after he had fired thirty rounds. He might have been stopped at twenty-nine or less if someone else had also had a gun. Absorbing the bullets of the bad guy until he runs out of them is a poor defensive strategy.

[Stephen G Ford]

12:44 AM on 01/16/2011

Somebody else DID bring a gun... he just didn't USE IT! Anyone have this kid's NAME? I just remember hearing him talking on one of the news programs...
Adding more guns to the mix is a really good suggestion! *Eyerolls*

[Atomicjim]

01:44 AM on 01/16/2011

True, and all the love and compassion in the world would not have stopped Loughner at that time. The situation required strong physical action in order to stop the massacre that was taking place.

[David Rozgonyi]

03:13 AM on 01/16/2011

Yup. However, a little more love and compassion in his life (toward him) might have prevented it from happening at all.

[SitandStay]

11:03 PM on 01/15/2011

Thank you. Succinct and tells it like it is.

[Ventoi]

02:46 PM on 01/15/2011

Score.

It does connect...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_use_of_incense

[Ventoi]

02:45 PM on 01/15/2011

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/buddhism/parable_burning_house.html

[Jill Perry]

10:06 AM on 01/15/2011

Thank you. I've been trying to understand what is going on in our country and the vilifying of "the other," without allowing myself to take part in the blame game and point fingers. We need to stand back from the vitriol and work on eliminating the ignorance that is rampant and causing so much hate. But how do we do this? I wish I had an answer.

[Odeemgawa]

08:08 AM on 01/15/2011

For those of you not versed in Buddhist practice, a brief overview:

Anger: Not getting what you desire.
Getting what you don't desire.
What's the predicate common to both : desire.

Sometimes called 'Self-Grasping".
Sometimes called 'Basic Ignorance'.

The cause: frustrated desire rooted in ignorant self-grasping.
The result: anger.

The antidote to the cause of anger is another cause: a lessessening of attachment to the self.
The cause of this lessening of attachment to the self: meditation on selflessness.
Just ask your 'self' "Who is reading/thinking this?' Try to find the thinker. Its not there.

Basic Buddhist psychology.

Editorial: It's up to the individual to remedy the source of their anger. No one can do it for you, including the Buddha.

[jettplane]

03:43 PM on 01/14/2011

I don't disagree with the gist of your point-that we must each consider how we can be more compassionate in light of our experiences, including the Tucson shootings. That is the point of Buddhism for me. I don't relate well to casting ignorance as the issue, however.

You've cast ignorance as the villian, and yet, we are all ignorant at some level. Ignorance is unavoidable. We may have forgotten the truth, we may not be able to see it well from our vantage point, or or our desires may cloud our understanding of truth. Your article demonizes ignorance, which is not good or bad in itself-it simply is. Demonizing ignorance, unfortunately, often ends up demonizing those whom to us appear to be ignorant, even though we are in no position to judge whether someone is or is not ignorant.

There is no demon in the story of the shootings. The shootings were a result of and created by great pain. Let's do what we can to help those who suffer to minimize the pain. The best thing we can do is follow President Obama's suggestion:

We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but the way we treat each other is up to us.

[jettplane]

03:46 PM on 01/14/2011

I intended to write "created pain", not "created by pain."

[schnauzergirl]

03:38 PM on 01/14/2011

"An unbalanced person with paranoid delusions, with easy access to guns, immersed in a culture of hatred and violence, whipped up by a media hungry for sensational news, given messages that a politician is threatening his well-being and should be targeted,..."

That is the absolute BEST description of this horrible situation that I ever heard.

[MyAhaMoment]

08:53 AM on 01/14/2011

Good Article. Agree with the analysis, but crikkies how depressing.