A Libertarian Take On Fear and Personal Responsibility

Impact

Ruger firearms has released a notice stating that orders for new guns are so massive that it can no longer meet the demand, so it has decided to suspend accepting more orders until May.

Some people buy guns for sport. Some people buy guns to collect. I wager that most people these days are buying guns because they are afraid.

Are you afraid? Is your fear healthy? Does it make you a better person? Does being in a state of fear for your life cause the world around you to become a better place?

Look at the things we have done to ourselves out of fear. Fear of growing old and sick has caused society to hold a gun to each others' heads in order to force our children to fund our retirement and old age health care. Fear of death has caused us to create death on such grand scales that it nearly defies our ability to comprehend it. The base emotion that drives the thought that creates all war is fear. If we were not afraid of dying, if we were not afraid of not having enough, if we were not afraid of personal responsibility, there would be no reason to kill and destroy, there would be no reason to invade and occupy, there would be no reason to loot and steal.

Imagine for a moment what your life would be like if you had no fear. Would you need a gun to protect yourself? Protect yourself from what? Would you need a state to protect you? Protect you from what?

People often say their concern for others is what causes them to demand the protections of the state or to take up arms. They say things such as, "how would the poor children get an education without the state!" I would argue that if people truly had such great concern for others they would be far more worried about what would happen to those who do not fork over their wealth under a system of taxation. It is not possible to have concern for others, yet hold a gun to other people's heads in order to rob them of their property so it can be put to a use that you approve of.

If you loved your children as you love yourself, forcing them to pay for your retirement through social security would be repugnant to you. Having true concern for others means advocating and doing that which creates a state of less suffering for all others at all times. If you are truly concerned that poor children might not receive an education without the state, then the logical way to prevent this is to become a teacher of poor children yourself. Accepting personal responsibility for society's problems means doing something to alleviate them yourself. It does not entail demanding that other people solve the world's problems for you.

Can the world's problems ever be resolved through the point of a gun?

By demanding the state hold others accountable for the education of children, you abdicate personal responsibility for the education of those children. By demanding the state protect you from death, you abdicate personal responsibility for your own well being.  And in so doing, you bring into creation ever more violence and death.

It's time to accept personal responsibility for the problems society faces.  It's time to stop being afraid.  It's time to put down the guns.