Dangerous Old Men
By Ebben Raves
Everybody knows a Walt Kowalski. He is the grizzled Korean War veteran Clint Eastwood played in the movie Gran Torino. A man who spends his days sitting on the porch, keeping his house and yard immaculate, satisfied to drink his cheap beer while watching his neighborhood and country go to hell around him. He is an anachronism, a dinosaur -- part of the old America where you worked hard, took pride in your work and where you lived, and fought for your country and what it stood for when called upon. Armed with his M1 Garand rifle and 1911 .45 pistol he brought back from the war, he put new meaning in "Get off my lawn."
(Warning: spoilers follow.)
As anyone who has seen the movie knows, Kowalski is recently widowed and terminally ill. He does not have much to live for until he befriends his young Hmong neighbors. After teaching them what honor and self-reliance are, he eventually gives his life for them.
How many would take Walt Kowalski's guns?
He would likely fit the criteria for mental illness. Probably has PTSD, depressed over the death of his wife, and quite possibly alcoholic.
There are probably a couple of hundred categories of mental illness, from serious psychotic conditions like schizophrenia to the mental equivalent of the common cold. Or are they all just "nut jobs" who shouldn't have the right of self defense?
Where do you draw the line? What about Walt?
Paul
