HAND ME A GUN: A
RESPONSE TO DR. ODOZI OSUJI’S GUN CONTROL
The purpose of this essay is to narrate what happens when
one is unarmed and to counteract the notion advanced by Dr. Osuji and other
apologists that life is safer when
citizens are without guns. See Osuji’s essay in this forum
entitled: “White Americans Like to Carry Guns Because They are A Fearful
People. “ Americans of all races do not
agree with Osuji and would strongly disagree with his logic. We the law-abiding Nigerians would like to
have the right to bear arms inserted in the Constitution of our country.
A few years ago as a young professor at one of Nigeria’s
newly established colleges, this writer was rudely awakened up at around 2:00
am when a group of robbers broke into my two-room dwelling place. They
ransacked the whole place, scattering papers around and making away with my
college diplomas and a few possessions I had brought with me, mostly baby’s
clothes. I had just returned home after
being in America to pursue an education. What pained me more than the stuff I
lost was the abuse and intimidation. The robbers had weapons, and I had none.
While robbing me and putting my family in a great fear, the
robbers ordered us to cover our heads. They lifted my three-month old child out
of the crib to look for money, Thinking
that the robbers were taking the baby away for sacrifice, my maid raised her
head up. For that, Lillian our baby nurse was hit with the flat of a machete.
We heard one of the robbers blaming me and saying: “This man
was overseas enjoying while we are suffering here in the country”. I was being
blamed for getting an education and for the robbers’ predicament, namely, for
their choice of criminal career. Was I
to blame for being the victim or for going to America or for obtaining college
degrees that included two doctorates and 2 Master’s degrees? Did I force the
hoodlums to make a career out of armed
robbery?
The game of blaming the victim has been going forever. Read William Ryan’s Blaming The Victim(ISBN 9780394722269,
July 12, 1976, Mass Market paperback ,
published by Vintage).
Contrary to the opinions of proponents of gun-less Nigeria, the right to carry guns ought to be a topic of immense discussion. Killings
have been going in Nigeria for the longest by gun-toting hoodlums who are determined
to keep Buhari in power, including Fulani herdsmen, boko haram, armed robbers,
and kidnappers. The right to carry firearms
to protect self and family should be enlarged in Nigeria as it is done
in America rather than be abridged or curtailed.
To enlarge is to
increase, extend, broaden, widen, amplify, or made bigger. Why are there frequent
reports of mugging, kidnapping, raping, and other violent crimes against
Nigerians? Do not look any further than commonsense, if you are sincere. In
Nigeria, crimes against persons and involving personal property are rampant,
widespread, fecund, proliferating. rambling, or flourishing. Unarmed Nigerians
are at the mercy of armed hoodlums. What does it mean? It means the good people
are being maneuvered by the bad ones.
Why did a group of riff raffs choose to rob a man with a
young family just returning from America to his nation in the middle of the
night? It was just because I had no gun and was as naive as Dr. Osuji and the
over educated gun control wiseacres who masquerade as messengers of patriotism,
chauvinism, nationalism, or boastful and belligerent jingoism
.
The issue of armed robbery is a clear case where one uses commonsense.
You are more likely to be assaulted with a weapon if you are weaponless than if
you had a gun. Accept this fact and
let’s move forward. Assume this writer
is in his garden minding his business with
a fully loaded gun by his side when Amadou, Buhari’s chief herdsman comes to graze his cows on
this writer’s bed of tomatoes, with the intention to rape the writer’s granddaughter and carry
her away. If you think this writer would live to see his granddaughter taken
away as a sex slave, keep thinking.
The aim of this essay
is to advance reasons why this writer implicitly believes in and is
wholeheartedly and comfortably in support of legislation that guarantees the rights
of Nigerians to bear arms. The right to
bear arms is related to the issue of being a bona fide member of the Nigerian communities.
The right to live freely implies the right to enjoy the benefits of
citizenship, including safety and security in the community. One who has achieves
security and safety in his country is said to have awesome greatness.
Dr. Osuji advocates the removal of guns from the people
under the mistaken theory that (a) fearful persons carry guns to protect
themselves; (b) fearless persons who do
not perceive threat all around do not carry guns for protection; and (c)
loving people who have the sense of love and security do not carry guns to
protect themselves. One has the right to
live in a fool’s paradise so long as one does not intend to be a meddler or
interloper into the other person’s affairs.
.
If you mess with me, I will mess with you. While ruffling my
feathers and rubbing me the wrong way, Dr. Osuji seems to reason that if I carry
a gun, I am likely to discharge the bullets
into an enemy. He further infers that because I am a fearful man, I am apt to carry
a gun to banish terror. I disagree for the simple reason that fear is a common denominator. It is the commonest
and extremely powerful emotion humans share with other human beings.
Fear powers human behaviorial responses, including the fight
and flee action . Indeed, fear is at the nucleus of human survival instinct. Fear keeps mankind out of harm’s way until
man figures out how to minimize the
dangers involved in what man is about to do.
We spend billions of research dollars before launching a
spaceship towards the moon .Isn’t survival (self-preservation) regarded as worthwhile
goal? We spend billions to deter aggression. As we are discussing this,
President Trump is sending troops and
warships equipped with weapons to North Korean borders just in case. Deterrence is a war strategy. Like a gun, deterrence means “don’t do it or
I’ll fire.”
That’s why I must buy a gun, procure the gun license and practice shooting at the
range, all in the attempt to prolong my
days on earth in order to live and let
live. Just in case. Just in case is a preemption,
prevention, restriction, limitation, or dissuasion, rather encouraging
aggression.
To carry guns is to safeguard personal freedom. To choose
freedom is not violence. It is an expression
of liberty. Americans carry guns to maintain national liberty from foreign domination
as well as to control lawless others, Carrying
guns, for most Americans, is an inalienable
right that must not be bridged.
What greater right solidifies citizenship status than the
right to bear arms? To own a gun is to achieve greatness, and to be great is to
be fortified. An armed man is somebody
rather than nobody. An unarmed man is a nonentity. He is banza, unknown,
mediocrity, nobody, insignificant, or nothing.
A man is great when he’s armed in self-defense. For William Shakespeare,
greatness is the ability to stand tall in the face of aggression. Shakespeare
advises: “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve
greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” {Twelfth Nights}
When one feels free and
secured as a true citizen of Nigeria or any the United States of America cannot
take that freedom for granted. Because there is nothing free about freedom, one
must realize that that freedom must be guarded enviably and protected
forcefully Ownership of guns is a way to ensure that freedom is not lost. Freedom
is a badge of honor, respectability, and greatness. That right to achieve greatness ought to be embedded or
enshrined in the Constitution of any nation that truly advances or advocates
inalienable rights in a democracy. A man
armed with a gun is expressing inalienable
right.
A right is inalienable if it is absolutely essential, unchallenged,
incontrovertible, indisputable, or unassailable. It is heard in the battle cry:
“Give me freedom or give me death.” Removal of guns is an abridgement of one’s
right to protect oneself. To be a citizen without guns is to be no citizen at
all or to be in state of homelessness. We are not meant to be vagabonds, are
we? I must carry a gun as personal expression.
That’s why I must buy a gun, obtain the gun
license and practice shooting at the range, all for the purpose of prolonging
my days on earth , to live and to let live.
I disagree with anyone who comes around attempting to convince me that fearful persons perceive threat all around them and, therefore, carry guns to protect
themselves. I do disagree because I live
among disagreeable persons in a world that is becoming increasingly militant, dangerous
and disagreeable.
We live in a world that is dislikable and cantankerous,
defined as being irritable, crabby,
argumentative, complaining , unreasonable, or belligerent. Belligerence may
lead a certain trigger-happy man or
woman to Walmart’s department store, show a driver’s license and purchase a gun to rid himself of the “devil
that made me do it.” To do it is to use a
gun on me or someone else as a target.
Do we need someone to
convince us that we live in a world that is becoming increasingly ugly and that one
needs to walk circumspectly in order to live and be safe. One who proceeds circumspectly does so, not haphazardly.
He does things cautiously, suspiciously, watchfully, charily, cagily,
vigilantly, or carefully. It is increasingly
necessary to protect myself with a gun. Guns
do not kill per se. People kill. Therefore, people need to protect themselves against potential killers.
Finally, we ought to
stop saying that it is the good fearful
person who carries guns to protect himself. That’s a lie. It is the bad,
fearless and criminally-minded man, who in the first place carries a gun to
bolster confidence in order to intimidate, terrorize, frighten, or coerce
others. We congratulate Dr.Odozi Osuji on his courage to tackle some of those
thorny, foul-tasting issues in our society, but we find his position on gun
control distasteful and unacceptable.
Let the Nigerians For Right to Bear Arms raise their voices and be heard!
By Dr, James C. Agazie, jamesagazie@gmail.com;
jamesagazies.blogspot.com
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