More evidence of mechanistic thinking comes to us from Omaha, Nebraska, where its mayor proposed amending that city’s gun laws to include a requirement that all guns used in the commission of crimes be destroyed. The idea that inanimate objects are to blame for what humans do with them represents a very primitive view of causation. Such a mindset was present in early England where, in one case, a gate had fallen and killed a man. The gate was tried, found guilty, and executed! It is the same kind of child-like thinking that found expression, after World War II, in the notion that if nations were to dump all of their military weapons into the ocean, wars would cease. Submarines, bombers, aircraft carriers, etc., make us go to war, and if we can just exorcise them from the world we can live in peace! (I have often wondered if members of the defense industry drummed up this idea in order that they might later produce more weaponry!)

As long as we are prepared to buy into the nonsense that “things” exert their will over us and make us do wicked things, we will continue to live robotic lives, finding comfort in our projecting onto others – be they people or objects – the dark side of who we are.

Yeah, capital punishment for the guns! That’ll make them stop their evildoing! Perhaps we can extend such logic to include automobiles: if someone is killed or seriously injured by a drunk driver, let’s send the car to the compactor!