The warrior code

July 6, 4:12 PMDenver Gun Rights ExaminerDan Bidstrup

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People group together, (form societies) when they wish to protect themselves from brutes and murderers.  By creating a social compact, they hope to be able to eat, work, marry and raise a family relatively free from the chaos of banditry and tyranny.  The group becomes more powerful than the individual's ability to perpetrate crime, and serves to curb their ambitions. To enforce that social compact, the society gives a subgroup more power than the rest in the form of warriors, armies, police, and security forces.  These protectors train for war, learn how and more importantly when and why to kill enemies of society. The concepts of discipline and honor are central to the warrior code of every society throughout history.

The Japanese samurai had the Bushido Code, that centered on loyalty to leaders, devotion to duty and honor above life itself.  Dishonored samurai were expected to kill themselves to atone.  European knights had the code of chivalry.  Not as formal and codified as Bushido, it stressed the same characteristics of bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women. 

According to the 778 AD Song of Roland, knights were to:

To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the liege lord in valor and faith
To protect the weak and defenseless
To give succour to widows and orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
To live by honour and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honour of fellow knights
To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
To respect the honour of women
Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
Never to turn the back upon a foe

The knights and the men at arms who joined them were the instruments of the king to keep order and defend the realm. 

Today, our military is trained to a code of conduct that includes
Article 1: "I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense."
and Article 6: "I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America."

Beyond the six articles of the code, our soldiers strive for the ideal of being an Officer and a Gentleman, a man of honor, worthy of respect.  An American soldier knows that American ideals flow from our Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, which they swear to uphold and defend.

In American cities, our police generally serve under the rubric "To Serve and to Protect".  They operate under the authority of the state and local governments, and must execute their duties honestly, and without partiality. They are trained in the law and mete it out "retail" among the people.  Their actions are monitored by the citizens they serve and they can be disciplined by Internal Affairs or the courts if need be.

What does all this have to do with guns?  I would contend that people who own guns, and even more those who choose to carry them as law abiding citizens, feel the same kind of constraint upon their actions as the warrior code.  They are no longer ordinary citizens, but must keep special check on their conduct and decisions because they have elected to carry a weapon capable of deadly force.  Like all the other special classes of protectors in the social compact, they are constrained by the ideals of our country, our founding documents, the lines of authority, and all pertinent laws.  Like the warriors, they know they are under authority, answerable to it, and choose to honor it in word and deed.

( A great discussion of the warrior's code is posted by professor Shannon E. French from the the US Naval Academy.)