What Constitutes a Weapon?
by William Watner
Number 116 - 1st Quarter 2003
What is a weapon? Does it have to be big? Sharp?
Powerful? Does it have to be something you can grab?
Something others can destroy? What is a weapon? A
weapon can be grasped, but it also can be
ungraspable. Weapons are very useful when not used
as weapons. A weapon is a tool. A sheath knife can
be a very effective weapon in the hands of a trained
user, and can also be used to clean deer. Almost all
weapons have a double 'existence', guns particularly.
Major Smith and the rest of the crew have been saying:
your best survival tool is the one between your
ears. I would like to add to that. Your best weapon is
the one between your ears.
A weapon generally has the capability to destroy
in some way. Therefore a baseball bat can be classified
as a weapon. A golf club could be just as lethal.
For that matter a cast iron tea kettle would be extremely
effective at close range.
The Netherlands is a good example of where the
seed of weapon confiscation has bloomed and blossomed,
and where it ultimately leads. The Government
of the Netherlands is asking for the voluntary
turn-in of weapons (those that turn in guns don't face
risk of prosecution). This includes baseball bats, CO2
pistols, and alarm pistols (from the journal of the
NRA, THE AMERICAN RIFLEMAN, Feb. 2001, p.
73). Where will they stop? Where can they stop? They
really can't coercively confiscate all sport items, or
can they?
The most potent weapon in the hands of the
oppressor is the minds of the oppressed.
—Steven Biko, South African Activist
One of the most interesting weapons, and effective
at the right time, is non-violent resistance. It is
a weapon, but not a violent one. It takes more guts
to stand firm than to fall back on your animal instinct
to fight. It means not cooperating with what
you think is wrong or evil. Which brings to mind
another weapon, a very valuable weapon, one which
can't be taken away without your consent:
It is your spirit; the flame that burns within each
and every one of us. This, along with your brain, constitutes
the two weapons that nobody, even if they
have complete power over your physical body, can
steal or put out. "But can't they kill me?", you say.
Yes, they can. But all that does is entomb your spirit
in history and eternity forever. When you are dead,
your spirit is even further beyond their grasp than
before. Look at Jesus as an example for a spirit never
caught, a flame that will never be stamped out.
As Jungle Jim said recently, there are entities in
the world that are trying to dumb down our spirits
and our brains. 'They' are trying to make our flames
burn low. Instead of trying to draw up the lowest
flame to the highest (which can only be done voluntarily,
not coercively), 'they' try to beat the highest
ones down to the lowest. 'They' are trying to make
our brains follow them, the State, unquestioningly,
and not even to think about morals or right or wrong.
So what does make a weapon? To make it short
and sweet, I would say it is anything that can be
used in any way against your enemy.
As the last word, my advice is: Use your body—your
spirit-your brain—and whatever tools you have, to
your best advantage, whatever your situation.
[This article originally appeared in THE HOMESTEADER
(No. 10, Spring 2002), published quarterly
by Major Michael Smith. William Watner is a fifteen
year-old homeschooler.]
