by Donald Hancock

Created on: August 15, 2009   Last Updated: August 23, 2009

The Goal is Under kill

No one expected a tea party, but we hardly anticipated such a rout as this. The whole company had been wiped out by one machine gun nest in that pillbox on hill 85. How could so many men have died in such a short time as that?

It is because of the efficiency of modem warfare. You see, even in this scenario from the Korean War in 1955, the object of all weaponry was to kill and/or maim as many of the enemy as possible in the shortest time possible. And so it has always been since the first warrior exchanged his stone hatchets for metal.

What is needed, of course, is for the whole world to agree upon a new priority for all weapons. Let us say in passing, that the best solution all around would be to work on outlawing war altogether.That is certainly down the road and will ultimately come as surely as the earth spins. But for now let us give you a new goal for future weaponry.

Let every nation agree that the ultimate weapon will be the one which kills and/or maims the least number of people. Yes, you heard right. As far as machine rifles are concerned, the goal will be to reduce steadily from the ability to shoot, say, several hundred rounds per second down to 20
rounds per second and then 10, until only one could be loaded and shot in a 60 second period. But, you say, that's going back to the U.S. Civil War days. And yet, look at the slaughter at Gettysburg. Yes, but we are only part way to our goal. You see, the almost ultimate goal is to get the rifles refined
to the point where it would take several hours for each side to load and fire. By that time everyone would be so bored with the whole process that they would break out the playing cards and the Monopoly boards.

You were taking me seriously at first, right? But now you think I might have a bit of my tongue in my cheek. And you, of course, would be right. But you can't deny the fact that single shot rifles kill fewer people than 9 mm machine pistols. And Monopoly kills even fewer people than single shot rifles. At least it seems like a much more civilized direction than more is better.

Until mankind finds the way to replace hate and suspicion with love, it certainly seems like a good direction to go, if you can get everyone to agree. We outlawed poison gas. Maybe, we can outlaw fast guns. It's worth a try!

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