Guns and other sellable hardware

I was listening earlier today to William Crawley quizzing Rev Harold Goode about his observation of IRA decommissioning. I listened for only a short while, and he hadn’t got round to talking about the decommissioning of loyalist weapons but  I expect he’s been over that ground by now. 

There’s a thing about weapons: they don’t age well. A musket may still shoot and kill a person, but there’s really not much market for them now. Even the famous Armalite is a bit dated. If. you were smuggling guns in, say, at Larne, you’d probably go for AK-47s. 

The IRA used to use what were referred to as Barrack-busters, which did what it said on the tin. Bur today, if the IRA were in existence and buying weaponry, they’d probably be more interested in Drone bombs. Creative ways to kill people keep growing and changing at pace. And of course there are people who have made a mint, thanks to the slaughter in Gaza and now Lebanon by that we’re-only-defending-ourselves state, Israel. And wouldn’t you like to have cornered the market on weapons – tanks, drones, war planes – for use in defending Ukraine.

Here’s an up-to-date chart showing which countries are making, if you’ll pardon the term, a killing through the sale of instruments of death.

I wonder what kind of conversation there is over the dinner-table, between someone who makes a living creating weaponry and his  family;

Mom: How was work, dear?

Dad: Pretty tiring, dear. There was an rush order in for 100 of those bombs that can be dropped anywhere in the world, while the bomber sits at home.

Son: I’d like to work from home and drop bombs on that toe-rag English teacher I have.

Mom: Less of that, young man. You know I don’t like bad language at dinner. Toe-rag indeed!

Dad: Don’t worry, son. You work hard at school and one day you’ll be able to design and sell weapons of death too. 

Son: Do they have an employee-of-the-month at your place of work, Dad?

Dad: We like to call our place of work an armaments construction centre, son – ACC for short. And to answer your question, yes, we do have an awards ceremony for the most imaginative gesture of the month.

Son: Wow – I like it.  I’d design a bomb that’d wipe out all the Palestinians in one massive swipe. It’d be designed to recognise Israelis and other innocent people. But it’d make mincemeat of all the rag-heads.

Mom: Oh you really are a little rascal, aren’t you? Although a bomb that distinguished between good people and bad really would be a contribution to humanity.

Dad: Sure would. You keep working hard at school, son,  and who knows – you could become an armaments scientist.

Son: What’s an armament scientist?

Dad:  He’s a clever man  – or woman, let’s not be sexist – a man or woman who can dream up new ways to kill people that no one thought of before.

Mom: Your dad just loves his work – don’t you, dear?

Dad: You bet I do. Inventing new ways of killing the enemy and making sure the US stays Numero Uno in the world – it’s hard to beat that combination. 

Mom: That’s why America is the greatest country in the world. 

Son:  You forgot the last bit.

Mom: What last bit?

Son: God Bless America

Mom ( deeply moved):  Oh son – I just love you to bits.

Dad : We’re proud of you, son.  And see to it that you never lose those core values.