Summary

The website content discusses the perceived double standard among conservatives regarding "personal responsibility," particularly in the context of gun ownership and suicide compared to attitudes toward poverty and social programs.

Abstract

The article critiques the tendency of some individuals to attribute suicide, especially in cases like Naomi Judd's, to fate or mental illness, thus absolving themselves of responsibility in ensuring firearms are stored safely. It contrasts this with the stringent stance on personal responsibility often taken by the same individuals when discussing poverty, where they argue that anyone can succeed through hard work and that social programs are unnecessary. The author argues that this inconsistency undermines the principle of personal responsibility, suggesting that people should apply the same level of accountability to gun safety as they do to financial independence.

Opinions

The author believes that blaming suicide solely on mental health issues disregards the importance of responsible firearm storage.
There is a critique of the fatalistic attitude that suggests if someone is determined to end their life, there's nothing that can be done to prevent it, especially in relation to gun access.
The author points out a double standard where people who are quick to demand personal responsibility in the context of poverty and social programs are less willing to accept responsibility for how their firearms are accessed and used.
The article suggests that the lack of discussion about gun storage responsibility in the wake of tragedies is problematic and indicative of a broader societal issue.
The author emphasizes that individuals should take active steps to secure their firearms to prevent suicides and accidents, and that this is a form of personal responsibility that should

Why Do Conservatives Have a Double Standard Around “Personal Responsibility?”

Don’t believe me? Talk to them about money, and then talk to them about guns.

Having gotten a lot of comments on Why Is No One Saying This About the Suicide of Naomi Judd? I notice a troubling turn in close to half of them.

So, so many people are of the opinion that, Well, poor thing, she was suffering, she would have done it anyway.

Part of which I get. I, too, have had depression for something like the past seven years, although nothing like the severity of Naomi Judd’s.

I have no family. If I ever get diagnosed with something terminal, I may consider suicide myself. It’s sort of like Robin Williams. With what he was going through, I don’t blame him for doing what he did at all.

However: Too many people seem to be using this fatalistic idea of “Oh, well, they would have committed suicide anyhow,” as some kind of argument that being responsible with the storage of firearms …

… just doesn’t matter, and somehow shouldn’t be discussed.

Oh, well. She would have done it some kind of way, anyhow.

In what world is this an excuse for leaving loaded guns in places where suicidal people, mentally ill people, or, for that matter, two-year-olds, can easily lay hands on them inside of five minutes while someone’s back is turned?

And why do so many of us have this double standard around the words, “personal responsibility?”

Just ask many of these same people where they stand on poverty and social programs. You will hear that poverty has nothing to do with the environment we live in, and that people who find themselves without enough money for the basics have no one but themselves to blame.

“This is America!” these people shout. “The greatest country in the world, the country where anybody at all can become rich!” (And that’s the main reason, some argue, that America is “great.”)

All you have to do is work hard enough, so the story goes. So, many of these same people giving gun laws the stink-eye are staunchly against any kind of social programs, even when they’re voting for politicians who will force poor women to have babies they don’t want and can’t afford to care for.

Why? “Poverty is all about personal responsibility!” they cry. “And nothing else!”

Yet, when you talk about the personal responsibility around owning and storing a firearm … these folks are the ones making excuses.

There is nothing in the news about where the gun came from that Naomi Judd used. However, the family had multiple firearms, so who knows if Ms. Judd would have needed to purchase her own to commit suicide.

If she did, she definitely would have had to do it on the sly. I doubt very seriously her husband or either daughter would have supported her in purchasing a firearm.

And she had published a book that told millions that she was often suicidal and had acted out with a firearm at least twice in the past, so she would have had to luck out with a firearms dealer who didn’t know who she was, or hadn’t read her book.

That said, I am getting really sick of the argument that, “Oh, it doesn’t matter, she would have done it anyhow.”

By that argument, we should just throw our hands up and do nothing, with a fatalistic attitude that if somebody really wants to shoot themselves or someone else, oh well. “We can’t do anything about it. They’re going to do it anyhow.”

Look at all these school shooters who acted out with a family firearm. Here is another suicide with a family firearm. Yet the reaction of many sounds like: “Oh, woe, we can do nothing, boo-b-b-boo, hoo, hoo.”

We can lock our guns up or get them the hell out of the house! That is what we can do.

So what if a person decides to hang themselves next? They would not have done it with our gun!

So what if the person decided to jump off a bridge? They would not have done it with our gun.

We would have taken care of our responsibilities as far as it was humanly possible to take care of our responsibilities. Which include not leaving guns where suicidal, mentally struggling people, or two-year-olds have easy access!

And then making excuses for what we did: Oh, they would have done it anyway. There was nothing we could have done. I’m going to make an excuse for irresponsibly leaving a gun around, we can’t do anything about guns, boo-b-b-boo, hoo, hoo.

For a nation who comes down so hard on the poor that we don’t believe in one little scrap of social assistance, citing “personal responsibility,” we sure do a quick one-eighty when “personal responsibility” involves what we do with a firearm.

It’s 100% their responsibility if they’re poor, but if someone gets my gun and shoots themselves or somebody else, I’m not a bit responsible whatsoever! Who, me? Moi?

They “would have done it anyway,” so what I did doesn’t matter. Because I own the gun and believe in gun rights, so … ehhhh. Maybe my sense of “personal responsibility” doesn’t need to apply quite so stringently to me as I apply it to someone else. As in:

If “they” are poor and you cite societal factors, I call bullshit, but if they shoot themselves or someone else with my gun and you point out that I was irresponsible in storing it, I will look around for an excuse to call bullshit.

BULLSHIT. I’m calling that bullshit.

Either you believe in personal responsibility, or you do not. You can’t apply it mercilessly to one issue and loosely, with all kinds of loopholes, to another.

The fact is that the two issues are alike in one important way: Unless and until we’ve done all we can do about the problem, we are responsible for our part in the problem.

And there’s one fact conservatives don’t want to see about either issue.