Iraqi Guns

[kent_allard_jr]

One surprising fact about Iraq, which we learned before the war, was that there were a lot of guns in private hands. Yet gun advocates claim that the "right to bear arms" is a key ingredient of a free society. In mid-March, Slate's chatterbox asked NRA types and "experts in Iraqi politics" to explain why dictatorship has been the norm in Iraq, despite its gun-wielding citizens. I'm not an Iraqi expert by any means, but I sent in my own answers. In retrospect, my second one seems prescient:

The more people that own guns, the more people will fear their neighbors. If people fear their neighbors, they're more likely to support an authoritarian government that maintains law & order.

More to follow...