Today's Exactly100: The Paradox of the Reluctant Trigger Finger

It is an American article of faith: the state can become abusive; an armed citizenry deters that abuse. Guns are framed as a constitutional safeguard against government power, invoked more often than crime prevention or hunting.

In that sense, the guns are said to be for the state, not the neighbor. The nation owns more firearms than hands to fire them. Yet when masked, heavily-armed agents kill in public, the arsenal stays silent. Millions march. Resistance thins into placards, chants, and hope—not force. The trigger remains untouched, fortunately, and the doctrine persists without ever meeting its burden of proof. /Vincent R. Pozon