Guns
Our Vulnerable National Psyche
Vermont is considered by many as among the most liberal, generous spirited states. A reputation largely deserved in my opinion.
To many’s surprise, Vermont is a gun state. Bernie Sanders, maybe the most far left US Senator, is a member of the NRA.
For a state that has relatively few gun deaths (relatively because we are the second smallest state) it’s surprising to learn how many here own guns. I suspect they are largely hunting guns, not assault weapons. Last year someone set up a firing range and encouraged assault weapons. The town rose up against him, maybe as much for the noise as for the unhappiness with having such lethal weapons in their town.
It’s dispiriting to know that much of the world regards us as a violent nation. But it’s hard to deny, with the horrific number of mass shootings that are recorded, virtually daily.
We seem to finally be coming to terms with the violence that has undergirded our national story from the earliest days when Europeans regarded this land as theirs by some divine right, and thus felt justified in killing and driving off those who had been here before us. Native Americans and people of color, subjects of arbitrary displacement, and brought here in chains, are finding their voices in our national conversation.
Like any fraught issue, it is being welcomed by some and abhorred by others. The saddest part is that those who don’t want it included in our efforts to acknowledge the darker parts of our heritage, have turned to our long history of violence to try to silence those voices.
Vermont is hardly in a position to take a leader role in exhibiting tolerance and respect for differing convictions. We are a tiny state almost happily removed from the mainstream. But we are as diverse as any state, and while we have our share of prejudices – locals versus flat-landers, moneyed versus impoverished – there is some kind of shared respect for the land and for each other.
I suspect one reason for Vermont being a kind of refuge from much of the national madness, is that, with a handful of exceptions, there isn’t vast wealth here. Which means that developers who might exploit the green mountain state for profit have not found a lucrative model here.
Dare I suggest that one piece of the remedy our nation wishes for, is some sort of leveling of wealth, strengthening of working and middle class people so they feel they have a stake. No insanely wealthy people whose wealth gives them an outsized voice. If you want a taste of the wonderful chaos democracy can be, come to a Vermont town meeting.
We have guns and we have prejudices, like everyone. But somehow we find other, less violent ways to acknowledge our differences and resolve our conflicts.
One of our cherished sayings is “Hate doesn’t grow in the rocky soil of Vermont.”