You May Not Kill

Buddha with the Elephant Nalagiri (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Buddha made a suggestion. That was 2,500 years ago. Maybe 2,800. He taught against violence. Do not kill. Violence is wrong. Do not kill people. Do not kill animals. Simply put, do not kill. Obviously he was born into a world where people killed. He managed to tame bandits and killers just by teaching. He went on to found the world's first republic. It just made sense to him that rulers should not be by birth. He thought about it and said, let's pick instead. Let's peacefully deliberate and pick. Revolutionary.

Well, that was then. We live in the era of the modern nation state. America is a state. The message can not be a suggestion. Do not kill. There is law saying you may not kill. No one, but no one, may kill. Not only that, violence is illegal. You may not only not kill, you may not so much as slap. You may not slap your child, not your wife, not the stranger at the mall.

There is sanctity to the human body form. It is protected by the law. And America has one of the best law enforcement of anybody out there. I have not done a study, nor have I read up on it, but I would not be surprised if there is a claim that America is number one. Never mind the results. I am talking about capability and resources.

It is not suggestion, it is not a class lesson. It is the law. Enforced by law enforcement. You may not kill. You may not slap. No violence, no need to explain. This is Buddha come full circle. Or at least that is my worldview. I am a Buddhist. Me and Richard Gere.

Not only that is the law. I am arguing that is absolutely the first responsibility of the state. More important than education, health, taxation, more important than the Iraq War, more important than going to the moon, or to Pluto, more important than roads and bridges. The American state has no more important responsibility than preventing acts of violence. You can't disagree with me on this. This is a fact. There is no arguing otherwise.

If that is the number one law of the land, if that is the government's absolute top responsibility, how come the constitution says you have a right to bear arms? Because at one point in pre-history, American citizens needed it. It is like the appendix, at one point in our evolution we needed it, but we have not needed it in a long time now. The best thing to do with the appendix is to cut it off. It has no use. But left there it could potentially infect. The right to bear arms is America's appendix. Cut it off. Not only does it have no use, it fundamentally undermines America's number one law, and foremost responsibility.

America is at daily war with its black population. This is not a case of the appendix might infect. It has so very actively been infecting. The gun is not a dual purpose device. It is not also a toothpick. There is only one thing anyone can possibly do with a gun. Kill. You can't even slap with a gun. It is not a mild violence device. It is a killing device.

The genius of capitalism is that it is the best mechanism designed by humanity for the allocation of resources. If America's capitalism is working right, resources going into manufacture and sale of guns will go elsewhere. Maybe people will build and sell cheap smartphones with that money. Maybe they will offer free ad supported Wi-Fi in those gun-infested neighborhoods. Capitalism has to be democracy's servant. And no democracy worth its salt can put up with killing citizens.

The gun lobby is about money. Guns are big money. So are iPhones. So are Android phones. Reallocate. Go launch a fast food chain for healthy eating. Offer a tutor service. There are enough entrepreneurs with ideas that could use resources, in those same neighborhoods. Run entrepreneurship competitions. Maybe not only the appendix should be cut, there should be a government program to buy back guns across the country, and to help engineer a restructuring of some of the industry. There should be a global law saying guns may only be sold and may only be possessed by professionals in law enforcement and the military. We will need a world government before we can have that global law. God knows we need one. All of Africa is one big inner city. There is daily war.

Guns have to go. You may not kill. There is sanctity to the human body form.

If hunting is a sport, regulate it like a sport. I don't think it is, but we can disagree on that one fine point. Every sport is regulated, even soccer. And soccer balls don't kill people, guns do.

The top responsibility of the world government would be to enact a global 911 service with a response time of three minutes or less for every point on earth. It might take a decade to build, but there is no skipping it. You may not slap. You may not shove. You may not shoot. You may not stab. You may not kill.

There is sanctity to the human body form.