"Gun Culture"

The problem is as much of "gun culture" as it is as legal.

This is the only country that deifies the gun.
Venerates the gun.
Worships the gun.
Idolizes the gun.

In fact the attitude toward the gun is akin to a primitive culture worshiping a stone idol. The gun in of itself is a tool, nothing more. In most countries it's seen as a tool, like a hammer or a wrench. It has no more significance than that. It's only in America that we bestow such powers and defend its rights as if the gun were a living being. This comes from the fact that a gun can have an effect not unlike a narcotic.

I do believe that the feeling of handling a gun for some can be very similar to the "fix" of a heroin injection. That euphoria of power and control is very intoxicating, especially to those who feel powerless or that their life is somehow not in control. Unfortunately, it's a hollow and false sense of power that's derived from the object of the gun and not from within. That's why gun ownership is so vehemently being protected, instead of the reality of the data that shows an exponential rise in the rate of gun violence in this country as compared to others.

 It's really a matter of "gun culture" in this country and that so many turn to guns to provide that sense of power. We have more gun shops than all the Starbucks in the world. We have gun shows, gun conventions, gun collecting as a hobby. I'm not criticizing these things, just pointing out how much the gun, a tool, is a part of the identity of the culture. It becomes a substitute identity for American men. Why are so many of the violent mass gun shooting perpetrated by adolescent males? Many young men today face an increasing complex world where competition to achieve becomes more important than self-satisfaction or happiness. In fact they are told that happiness can only be derived by financial achievement and if they don't measure up they will be looked upon as "failures". This only enforces feelings of inadequacy within these young men and they turn to other means for internal support. Most use drugs, others hide in escapist fantasy games or alcohol but a few can pick up a gun and feel a sense of power. The power to grant life or death. To most people that kind of power only illustrates a monster but for young men who have no sense of self or personal inner-strength, that power becomes their new identity. Why do young disenfranchised men join gangs or become part of organized crime?

The power of a gun replaces the feeling of an internal sense of weakness that many men feel and gives them an intoxicating power that they can't manifest on their own. When combined with mental illness, severe feeling of inadequacy, weakness or powerlessness, it becomes deadly. We have to reexamine what pressures we put on ourselves and our young men. We have to look into what kind of society we want and why is the gun so worshiped in our culture. Look at the movie posters, the video games and other artifacts of our culture and you can see how ubiquitous the gun is in all these images. Can we have functioning society without measuring it by financial statuses? Can we teach young men to have a healthy sense of self without putting the pressures of artificial standards of achievement, like social and financial status? Where can our internal sense of power come from, especially if we divorce ourselves from gun culture? Can we instill a sense of power, even masculine power, without resorting to objects of violence like guns?

True power can only come from within and should never be associated with objects such as guns, physical domination or money. We have to look within ourselves to see how much we have given over to these objects at expense of our own internal power.

What is Self–Confidence?

We promote martial arts as way of building self-confidence but what is self-confidence? Where does it come from? Are some of us born with it or is it learned? Do we confuse ego with confidence? Ego really comes from fear, from a need to hide because it masks a profound lack of self-worth. I recently had this discussion with a friend; they felt that showing any true feelings was somehow a sign of weakness. I tried to show them that confronting ones insecurities and being honest with one self is actually a sign of courage. Courage is the ability to vulnerable in front of others and from this power of vulnerability, comes the confidence to be your true self.

Some people find confidence or courage with alcohol, some from a gun. This is defiantly the case when self-appointed vigilantes patrol the streets in a need to control their environment, when really they are just scared with their feelings of lack of control and their own insecurities. Infantile gun fantasies take over the rational mind and they find themselves confronted with the realities that they sought out to create. By that time it’s too late before tragedy occurs. The comparison to recent events should seem obvious. My insightful brother pointed out to me that; “We are the architects of our own realities and sadly, our own miseries”.

The gun makes them feel strong and important but that feeling of superiority comes from the gun, not within. It's a completely external confidence because inside, they really are scared little children. I never understood this until I started studying Kung Fu. Chinese martial makes one go within and find that confidence inside of you. Not that you have the power to beat someone up but that you’re confronted for the first time with your own weaknesses and become more self-aware, as well as compassionate toward the self. That compassion then is extended towards others and is the foundation of self confidence.