This may be hard to believe but I’ve hit on the perfect first step to ending all wars and the vast majority of violent crime. Remember where you first heard this and take pride in the fact that you could be witnessing a key moment in history. I see my name on the Nobel Peace prize with this idea that’s revolutionary and elegant in its simplicity!
See the picture on the right? Know what they’re made of? Yes. Cardboard. That’s right. Weapons made completely from cardboard!
My idea is to start a global movement to put pressure on all our governments and arms’ manufacturers to replace all those metal weapons with paper ones.
Stunned silence around the world! Before you go off and read someone’s else’s site, just stay with me a while.
Think about it.
All existing weapons shoot bullets or explode (among other nasty things). Imagine, as an alternative, they could shoot absolutely nothing and, instead of exploding, they just get a bit soggy if left in the wet for too long. For sure it would undermine the whole point of a weapon; being to kill or at least maim someone (preferably lots of people at the same time). But think of the lives that would be saved!
“Why bother?”, I hear you ask. “Why not just disarm everyone?”
I can think of three very good reasons, though I’m sure there are more.
1 Naked without a gun
If we just take away the guns and things, then some of the people currently pointing them at others might feel a bit naked and nervous. Those being pointed at will obviously feel a whole safer, but we need to give everyone what they want. So cardboard weapons give these people something they can point and wave around a bit.
2 Guns are cool
A few people believe it looks cool to carry a weapon. Fake paper firearms allow them to continue their little fantasy. As a bonus, anyone can make their own, so they can choose really cool designs or even design their own. As long as it can’t hurt anyone, everything goes.
3 Right to bear arms
There’s a a large slice of the population of at least one major and hugely influential country that believes in their inalienable right to bear arms. I’m not naming names, but you know who you are! Some of them are quite stubborn and seem to be quite willing to not only bear the arms but use them as well. Well this plan will not interfere with anyone’s right to bear arms. Only their ability to do anything dangerous with them.
4 Guns are not cheap
I thought of more than three reasons. Paper weapons are a whole lot cheaper to make, so all that tax money (your money) that currently goes into arms could be diverted into something that actually helps preserve life rather than destroy it.
Is this plan really crazy?
Think about the vast numbers of weapons we produce and use to shoot each other and blow ourselves up.
That’s what’s crazy!
Footnote This post was inspired by a blog post at Something Random To Do on making cardboard weapons.Similar Posts:
- Plan B for World peace
- Success: I received an award and other celebrations
- How we die
- Things are not always as they seem
- What makes sense and what does not
- 6 reasons eating vegetarian food is best
Great idea, Ian. I love it! Let me be the one who support you with this. But something came across in my mind, what if this cardboard guns is being used as a weapon to hit (not to shoot).
I believe we have to think of how human’s mind work. It’s not about the tools (guns, knife, fire, etc.) that make them dangerous, it’s how the human think of how to use it.
Hi Aldhis. Hehe … was just thinking that if I had a choice between getting hit with a paper pistol or shot with a real one .. then I know which I’d choose!
I take your point though. From one perspective it’s not weapons themselves that are the problem but rather the willingness of those holding them to actually use them. On the other hand, most weapons are designed to kill or hurt people. Even if they originally evolved from hunting tools, that is still their purpose.
Happy to have you on the campaign! That’s now two of us! Ian
My friend, I guess I am the one that has to tell you the truth and confront you with reality: you are probably not going to get a Nobel prize. At least not with this idea. Sorry.
But keep working on it, perhaps one day you evolve it into a nice little project. However, do not forget about the main reason for the existence of modern wars: military industry is the strongest industry in the world and more wars means more money. So, incorporate this little bit into your idea and there we go…
I guess that’s what friends are for .. to confront us with the truth. I’ll just have to work on some more crazy ideas. I also wanted to have a little fun with the idea!
Your second point is really important. That the strength of the military industry is one of the main factors that fuel wars. It’s a vicious cycle .. better and more expensive weapons need to be used to keep profits high. High profits encourage more weapons to be promoted and sold. The cycle needs to be broken by a combination of political, popular and economic will. There seems to be little of any of these right now. That’s what I want to encourage. The will to do something about it. Starting with myself!
Sometimes, I feel like I just dont belong in America. If I brought this up around any person here, they would think I was some idealistic visionary(like thats a bad thing right?), but I truly adore this Idea. Ive said to myself for a very long time, that there is no honor in the way we fight wars anymore. Big bomb vs a Bigger Bomb, aim, shoot, and destroy. My family members come home from military training with brainwashed minds, and for what? They kill so easily, even in our military!! Death before Dishonor, but who are they dishonoring? Half the men and women out there don’t even know why we are at war! (sorry for my little rant) My point is that I really enjoy reading what you think. It has inspired me, as a little Oklahoma girl! Is it ok if I link you to my friends?
Hi Hollie. I’m nearly lost for words! That doesn’t happen often! I really enjoy your little rant, as you call it. A sign that something is moving in you? I rant frequently … even if that’s not very ‘nonviolent’
I try to balance it with smiling a lot too.
And please link me to you friends. I’d love an Oklahoma following! I’ve never been there but it’s always sounded really exotic to me. Ian
I read your introduction on the Entrecard forum, and wanted to stop by and welcome you aboard.
Although my views, I suspect, diverge from yours when it comes to the efficacy of non-violence, your blog is thought-provoking, well-written, and beautifully designed. It’s a pleasure to “meet” you as it were.
I like the idea, very original! The cardboard concept is something new and might just work if people were willing. Its like “weaning” people from metal guns.
Like with a baby transitioning to solid food, one can’t just place a green bean in from of them and say “eat!”
Or another example: one treatment for cigarette users who are attempting to get off their addiction is to have doses of nicotine (the factor that makes cigarettes so addictive) injected into his or her body over time. With each injection, the nicotine dose becomes smaller until the time comes when no more injections are given and hopefully the addict’s yearn has been put to rest.
Here are my only worries:
a)What about hunting (not war or harm) purposes with these weapons?
Yes I know, there are always bows and so forth, but still. For instance, around where I live, hunting the local deer (especially elk and whitetail) is THE thing. Why, to not know how to sight in a rifle, skin a freshly shot deer or to have not tasted a deer or bison burger is unthinkable! I can easily see my state seceding from the Union if the Brady Campaign ever takes off (so this is an exaggeration, but you get the point).
b) Would all countries agree to this? If the United Nations for example or someone else was to declare this or attempt to have all countries give up their weapons by force for cardboard replacements, a nuclear war might result (again, this is extreme but the objective is to make a point). Or if say this did fly with all, what would stop a country from suddenly manufacturing assault weapons again and taking advantage of peaceful countries who have given up their means of protection?
c) So guns are taken out of the picture, but other weapon choices are still left, like knives for example. Knifes can not do as much damage as some modern weapons, but can still be nasty. Making cardboard fighting knives might work, but what about dinnerware knives? Its impossible to cut steak with a cardboard knife. Some artists like to sharpen their drawing pencils with knives…ya can’t do that with substitutes make from cardboard. Or knives used in the making of handcrafted furniture, cardboard may not work so well in that situation.
d) In this crazy age upright citizens may keep guns in their houses to defend their families against killers.
There would probably still be metal gun smugglers and those of the underworld would know where to get those metal weapons. Now say an armed serial killer comes to upright and good so and so’s house and so and so only has a cardboard rifle? So and so will be dead meat in five seconds- cardboard rifles loaded with spitballs (for my example, we’ll use spitballs) are no match for bullets.
e) Is it the guns or the people who handle the guns? A gun is a tool, it has no mind or will of its own. It up to the user- the person who owns the weapon- on how that tool is used. Take a hammer- which is another tool- for example. A hammer can be put to good uses that help mankind. It helps build houses and other things. Yet a hammer can be used in different ways. This tool can be used to hurt someone else (i.e. knock them on the head hard enough so that fatal events can occur).
I’m not sure taking away the weapons will take away the fighting- people sill have fists and wills of their own. If so and so nut case wants to kill his neighbor, he can probably think of other ways to do it if no rifles are available. Or if [insert name here] country wants the land of a small country. If the “plaintiff country” is has the manpower, size and financial resources to do it, they can take over that country (of course it would take much longer without the aid of modern weapons but still could be done).
A quick example to demonstrate the point:
A guard dog of the rottweiler breed is muzzled and chained to a tree. Will he lie in peace in the shade? No, he will probably still bark and tackle the fool who goes within his reach, even though his key weapon- his teeth- have been disabled.
But still, sounds like you are off to a great start! Keep thinking on it. And thinks for posting (I love blog posts that make me think)!
ARI … many thanks for dropping by and the feedback. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to explore our (possibly) divergent views over time. I find it’s one of the best ways for me to learn .. to really listen to other perspectives.
JADE … wow! Thank you so much for the long, well thought out and clear comment. I think it’s even longer than my post!
I’ll keep my reply a bit shorter. I guess you noticed that I was attempting to use irony to make a point
and that I don’t seriously believe in this plan. I do seriously believe that our use of weapons has got completely out of hand in the last few hundred years.
I agree completely with you that it is the people who handle guns (not the guns themselves) that are the root of the problem .. otherwise, we’d still only be using weapons for hunting. Unless we all developed into vegetarians – which I hear is unlikely in your part of the world
As far as I know, weapons for hunting and knives for tools have been around for many hundreds of thousands of years. It’s only in the last 10,000 years or so that we started to use them against each other and then set out on a quest to find ‘better’ ways of killing and hurting as many people and as effectively as possible. We got pretty good at that in the last hundred years!
This point about armed serial killers on the loose. Yes .. I take the point and I certainly believe that I have a right (even an obligation) to protect life. I also know that there are a few people out there who are intent on inflicting pain and death for reasons I don’t understand. And they, for sure, will get their hands on weapons if they really want to. Last I read, in the USA there an estimated 230 million firearms in private hands. Is there really such a serious armed serial killer problem over there that you need so many guns to protect yourself? And if yes, why so many killers?
I like your point b). I have no illusion at all that every country would agree to give up their armed forces. No chance. Not at our current stage of evolution. Forcing countries to do things against their will doesn’t seem to work very well either. My general impression, though, is that those countries (Switzerland comes to mind) that have chosen neutrality and have very small, lightly equipped armed forces are among the safest in the world. And the bigger the armed forces, the greater the level of fear in the population. I may very well be mistaken on this.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment – I enjoyed reading! Ian
Ian,
I have so many different thoughts and feelings on weapons that I can’t get a straight thought out. There are so many “reasons” for and against weapons. So many military members in my family, too many hunters, etc.
An elderly lady in my mom’s neighborhood was murdered a few years ago. (still not solved) My mom lives alone and of course wouldn’t keep a gun in her house so I bought her a pellet gun that looks just like a real gun. She feels better, she feels like she could at least have a chance to scare someone away. Alot of thoughts about that theory too.
No good answer here.
Ian, I clearly see the humour behind it, but am not sure that many people will support it. As you state in your first statement: Naked without the gun. I certainly will be!
DEE, Thanks for this, and I agree there’s no good answer. The way I see it is that we once we learned (long time ago) that weapons were effective not only for hunting animals then we started a downward spiral. As far as I can see the only good reasons for weapons (apart from hunting – and that’s debatable too!) is because they exist and other folk have them .. so I need them. Well, not me personally as I grew up in a culture where owning weapons was not very acceptable.
I must admit I’m pleasantly surprised by the debate this post created! I just assumed that everyone wanted to get rid of weapons. Seems I was wrong! I’m learning a lot.
IONI, glad you saw the humour and didn’t take it too seriously. I’ve never owned a gun and never will (never say never!) and I can assure you that unarmed nakedness is not THAT bad! Not sure I agree that ‘not many’ people will support it. I’m guessing that it is a minority of the world’s population that actually owns a gun. May be still be quite a sizeable number of people but the world is a big place and most parts of it are peaceful and unarmed.
Hey Ian!
I wrote the original post that you linked to in your footnote, and I must say, BRILLIANT! I’ve never thought about things that way – my post was obviously just for entertainment’s sake – and thank you for bringing the concept up to a whole new level.
An amusing idea, but one that really provokes much musing too. At the very least, you’ve made us more aware, more conscious about this problem. Once again, thank you!
Hey Ian,
Very cool article, and an even cooler idea! I’m not so sure that the power hungry, sleeping individuals at the top of the “food” chain would be okay with distributing cardboard guns to their soldiers, but it’s still a cool idea nonetheless.
Aside from soldiers (it’s pretty obvious why they use guns that shoot), I’ve always wondered why people have to have real guns at all. Why not just have a gun replica and point that at someone when they’re breaking into your house? That oughta scare the hell out of them, haha.
Thanks for the insightful article!
@ Ian
Thanks for taking that in good humor
I will admit my jaw dropped when I saw the length of of that comment…
@EKNIFF … happy you liked it. And thanks again for the inspiration!
RAHUL … I’m not so sure they’ll be ok with the idea either. My aim was to raise awareness .. and I’m hoping (another naive hope, I’m afraid) that maybe one of the decision makers might read this and get inspired. Of course, cardboard weapons is meant as a metaphor and not to be taken too literally!
JADE … well I hope I take most things in good humour. And please don’t be discouraged from dropping by again and leaving more excellent comments. I love hearing ‘push back’ to my ideas.
You my dear Ian are a kindred spirit.
Peace, Love, Understanding and Respect,
Marilyn
Marilyn .. delighted to see you over here. Especially as we’re kindred spirits .. the best kind of spirit! Ian