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Monday, March 26, 2018

Harry Potter Is An Inspiring Parable About Resisting Gun Control

Interesting points in this at FreeBeacon, by Alex Griswold - extensive excerpt below, but go there to read the whole thing.
Instead of guns, wizards in Harry Potter use wands for self-defense. Every wizard is armed at eleven, taught to use dangerous spells, and released into a society where everyone's packing heat and concealed carry is the norm. It's an inspiring example the United States should strive towards.
But the reader slowly discovers there is wand control in the Harry Potter universe, and that it's a racist, corrupt and selectively enforced. In the second book, Chamber of Secrets, we learn that the Hogwarts groundskeeper Hagrid has been forcibly disarmed after being accused of a crime he didn't commit. When government officials again come to falsely arrest Hagrid, he lacks any means of self-defense.
In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry accidentally uses magic to attack his helpless aunt who has done nothing but insult him. It's an illicit use of magic that should have seen his wand snapped, but the political influence of the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge ensures that he escapes punishment. (Author J. K. Rowling no doubt was drawing from the example of cities like New York, where only the politically connected and powerful can obtain gun permits.)
Goblet of Fire is the first time we learn that non-humans like elves and goblins, who appear to have all the same sentience and rationality as humans, have been forcibly disarmed by law. When the elf Winky is caught open-carrying, she only avoids legal punishment because her slave master is a powerful Ministry official. Poor Winky is then fired, but luckily the good wizard Dumbledore agrees to re-enslave her in his kitchens.

A year later, in the Order of the Phoenix, Harry is despised by the government. When he stands his ground and uses magic in defense of his cousin, this time he is immediately informed that authorities are coming to destroy his wand. Through the intervention of Dumbledore, he barely avoids punishment meted out by a show trial staffed by politicians.
When Harry returns to Hogwarts, he learns that the government has forcibly added a politician to oversee and sabotage the class in which students learn self-defense. Harry responds by organizing a secret militia to resist both the government and the radical terrorists that Obama– oh sorry, Fudge– refuses to name.
But the clearest example of forced disarmament comes in the final book, The Deathly Hallows. The government has been secretly taken over by the evil Voldemort, who passes laws discriminating against wizards who have nonmagical parents. All so-called "Mudbloods" are then disarmed in show trials and forced into homelessness as the "wandless."
In the end, Harry Potter and friends overthrow the corrupt government and defend their freedoms using their extensive combat training. The child militia join forces with adult militia and in a final glorious battle overthrow those trying to oppress them by taking their wands. From their cold dead hands, indeed.

2 comments:

  1. I get a second-hand copy of Ed Whitman's QOTD from a friend who subscribes to it. You show up occasionally in a addendum. That's what led me to your blog, which has become regular reading via my RSS aggregator. Thanks for blogging.

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    1. Ed is my long time "significant other". I'll be sure to let him know that you found your way here, and if you have any interest in being added to his email list (I'm not sure if your friend forwards them daily), let me know and I'll pass your address along.

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