Raising to kill

Two species of birds, the Pheasant and the Chukar Partridge, are beautiful.

They are the residents of regulated hunting grounds scattered throughout the United States.

They are offered a peculiar kind of residency in that while they are raised with care in these "grounds," no sooner than they are released from their playpens, they are hunted down, i.e. become targets for the pleasure-seeking hunters armed with semiautomatics.

I feel its unethical to shoot down sentient beings when they pose no threat or harm to us, but it's beyond unethical when they are raised simply to be killed for sport with weapons that don't give them a chance for survival.

Under the spell of Kali

The town of Kalispell in Western Montana has some of the best gunsmiths in the nation. 

In the new geography of a raging debate on gun control and gun-related deaths, Kalispell looms large, even though physically its a scenic yet small place.

What struck me about Kalispell was the name itself. Though pronounced "Cali", the "Kali" part reminds me of the ferocious Indian goddess Kali. In a mythical era, Kali had roamed the earth bedecked with mass-weaponry. She was on a rampage to destroy, albeit for more transcendental reasons (than an Amy Bishop or an Adam Lanza, for instance).

What I mean to suggest is that the town in Montana has a peculiarly appropriate and ominous name.

But dem guns sure are pretty.

Guns and doses (of reality)

Some of the best insights come, not from The New Yorker (celebrated) staff writers, but from the readers.

So, I pay the same attention to the letters written in response to stories in the magazine ("The Mail") as I do to the stories.

Here's an excerpt from a letter on the great futility of the debate on gun control and gun-related violence in the U.S.

Firearms are potent objects of power; someone who picks up a gun instantly alters his status and relationship to those around him. They provide a quick fix for those feeling profoundly impotent and without recourse. This alteration is the reason that certain young people, feeling especially vulnerable and powerless in their teen-age years, are attracted to violent gun use. [...] The criminal use of guns is a symptom of larger problems of disempowerment in this country. The answer is not to ban forearms or even regulate them, but to provide the social, economic, and emotional tools that citizens need to feel a sense of control over their lives. Guns have become such strong symbols of violence and supremacy that it is much easier to talk about firearms regulation than to talk about the complex social and racial issues in this country, including Americans' lack of access to adequate mental-health care. The problem isn;t that it is easy to get a gun in America; the problem is that obtaining a gun is easier than getting therapy, or achieving racial equality and financial stability.