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My wife has been killed by a machine which should never have come into the hands of any human being. It is called a firearm. It makes the blackest of all human wishes come true at once, at a distance: that something die. There is evil for you. We cannot get rid of mankind's fleetingly evil wishes. We can get rid of the machines that make them come true. I give you a holy word: DISARM.

Kurt Vonnegut#132

ViolencePolicySafety

About this quote

What does it mean?
Firearms enable deadly wishes instantly; removing the machines can stop their use even if wishes remain.
In plain terms
Guns let people kill easily; take away guns to stop killing.
What can you take from it?
Ban tools that make death too easy.

Where it applies

  • policy debate
  • tragedy response
  • advocacy

Putting it to work

  • supporting disarmament
  • gun safety advocacy

Questions to consider

  • What tools enable violence?
  • How do we reduce harm?

Another view

It assumes removing guns fully solves violent intent.

More from Kurt Vonnegut

  1. I hadn't aimed at anything. If I had thought of the bullet's hitting anything, I don't remember now. I was the great marksman, anyway. If I aimed at nothing, t…

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  2. Mere opinions, in fact, were as likely to govern people's actions as hard evidence, and were subject to sudden reversals as hard evidence could never be. So th…

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  3. Many people found our house spooky, and the attic in fact as full of evil when I was born. It housed a collection of more than three hundred antique and modern…

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