This may be hard to believe but I’ve hit on the perfect first step to ending all wars and the vast majority of violent crime. Remember where you first heard this and take pride in the fact that you could be witnessing a key moment in history. I see my name on the Nobel Peace prize with this idea that’s revolutionary and elegant in its simplicity!

See the picture on the left? Know what they’re made of? Yes. Cardboard. That’s right. Weapons made completely from cardboard!

My idea is to start a global movement to put pressure on all our governments and arms’ manufacturers to replace all those metal weapons with paper ones.

Stunned silence around the world! Before you go off and read someone’s else’s site, just stay with me a while.

Think about it.

All existing weapons shoot bullets or explode (among other nasty things). Imagine, as an alternative, they could shoot absolutely nothing and, instead of exploding, they just get a bit soggy if left in the wet for too long. For sure it would undermine the whole point of a weapon; being to kill or at least maim someone (preferably lots of people at the same time). But think of the lives that would be saved!

“Why bother?”, I hear you ask. “Why not just disarm everyone?”

I can think of three very good reasons, though I’m sure there are more.

1 Naked without a gun

If we just take away the guns and things, then some of the people currently pointing them at others might feel a bit naked and nervous. Those being pointed at will obviously feel a whole safer, but we need to give everyone what they want. So cardboard weapons give these people something they can point and wave around a bit.

2 Guns are cool

A few people believe it looks cool to carry a weapon. Fake paper firearms allow them to continue their little fantasy. As a bonus, anyone can make their own, so they can choose really cool designs or even design their own. As long as it can’t hurt anyone, everything goes.

3 Right to bear arms

There’s a a large slice of the population of at least one major and hugely influential country that believes in their inalienable right to bear arms. I’m not naming names, but you know who you are! Some of them are quite stubborn and seem to be quite willing to not only bear the arms but use them as well. Well this plan will not interfere with anyone’s right to bear arms. Only their ability to do anything dangerous with them.

4 Guns are not cheap

I thought of more than three reasons. Paper weapons are a whole lot cheaper to make, so all that tax money (your money) that currently goes into arms could be diverted into something that actually helps preserve life rather than destroy it.

Is this plan really crazy?

Think about the vast numbers of weapons we produce and use to shoot each other and blow ourselves up.

That’s what’s crazy!

Footnote

This post was inspired by a blog post at Something Random To Do on making cardboard weapons.