Since this post stems from ruminations on Parkland and its grief-stricken aftermath, I issue the following disclaimer at the outset: I do not like guns. Not a fan. Nor am I a fan of recent readings of The Second Amendment that supply intellectually disingenuous cover for a particular group's insatiable appetites for unlimited arsenals. Nevertheless, there is something about the arguments of those calling for greater gun control that is profoundly amiss to me, and the core of the problem is that word, "control." Simply put, there's none of that to be had, and the pursuit of such control is a fool's errand that leads to disappointment and dismay. It is the domineering parent insisting on panaceas surpassingly worse than the illnesses they profess to cure. It is the boast of the rugged individualist and the architects of Vietnam and Iraq. One of the many things learned at the feet of that cruel tutor, cancer, is that we have no control over anything. Though we might strive and rage for control, true control is ephemeral, if not illusory. At best, it is sand through the fingers, at worst, a tormenting mirage. One of the savage lessons of a history relentlessly ignored or unlearned is that nobody really has any control over anything. Nor is there some magic formula for gaining control over events, actions, and individuals. There is no outlawing tragedy, no plausible prohibition of misfortune or malevolence. We could move heaven and earth to disarm the ranks of the gun-toting, we could coerce the consumption of nothing but fiber, we could mandate the abolition of the internal combustion engine, and bad things would continue to happen to good people. Today's cry of "Never Again" is an admirable and heartfelt absurdity, the most doomed expression of grief-stricken hubris for a species both blessed and burdened by the gift of free will. The only solution for a people deluded by the belief of control is to accept the absence of control, and embrace with relief the liberation from its curse. The day that we realize we have no control is the day we strike off its shackles and set ourselves free.
