Guns Have Three Ends

Guns Have Three Ends
© Mayer Spivack 10/10/2006
Permission to reproduce this work is freely granted for educational, non-commercial purposes. I would appreciate notification.

We all know that guns have two ends, the pointy end, the one with the hole in it and the blunt end where the shooter is. There is really a third end on every gun, and that is what I want to point out. But to do that I will have to discuss a bit of psychology.

The person on the pointy end is scared, and in mortal danger. The person on the blunt end, the one who is aiming the gun, the would-be-shooter, may be nervous, may be terrified if he or she feels that his or her life is in danger were it not for the power of the gun, or may be enraged and mentally ill. But when a gun is aimed by someone who is enraged, or slightly angry, or mentally ill, the third end of the gun comes into gun-play; that is the psychological end, where the shooter feels insulated from harm by being at the powerful end of the gun. This kind of shooter is not sane, nor mentally healthy—and these terms do not mean the same thing. This shooter is mentally ill, and insane—both. The third end of the gun is the emotional act of shooting the gun. It is an end in itself. In school shootings and many other kinds of shootings, all three ends of the gun are involved.

The pointy end deals death and pain. The blunt end is an anesthetic for the old chronic psychological pain within the shooter. Holding a gun in the hand, as an experiment, most anyone will be aware of a combination of all these aspects of the gun. Healthy first-time gun handlers feel fear, even at the sight of a real gun. They also sense the burst of power that is the essence of the gun when they pick it up in their hands. Within a few minutes, even healthy people experience thoughts, memories of movies and TV, associations, and perhaps are aware of some hints of their own anger. Once the hand is accustomed to holding the gun, after perhaps five minutes (that’s all it takes), then the third ‘point’ takes effect. The gun-holder knows that if he or she is careful where the gun is pointed, then he or she is absolutely safe and one hundred eighty degrees out of harm’s way on the painless blunt end of the gun.

Murderers, particularly child killers, seek and depend on this anesthetic effect. It is like a shot in the arm for them. They may float into unreality and fantasy, insulated from the reality of harm the gun can create, and spew rage without concern for their own fear or pain, at least for a few moments when they are threatening and shooting, when they believe that they, not hated others, are in control at last.

When the gun-smoke clears and the ears can once again hear the quieter sounds of crying and screaming and their adrenalin surge is down, their own pain, no longer anesthetized by their gun, becomes acute and unbearable. Only then does the familiar old suppressed self-hatred rise to their head and hand, and they turn the pointy end of the gun on them-selves to boost the anesthetic one final time.