“He’s more machine now than man. Twisted and evil.”
―Obi-Wan Kenobi

Darth Vader is not just a bad guy. He’s a tragic and sad character, perhaps even pathetic. It’s hard to feel sorry for him when he’s intimidating the bejesus out of everyone, blowing up planets and leading an assault on peace and goodwill in the galaxy.

But he’s not a happy guy. He’s barely even a guy at all, anymore.

Driven by pain, anger and ultimately fear, and literally torn apart by his numerous scuffles, his once graceful form was replaced by cold machine. Part by part.

He may have been the galaxy’s chief bad ass, but that armor hid another truth. The loss of his flesh and blood mirrored the loss of his own humanity.

It must have been uncomfortable under all those circuits and wires—for whatever flesh he had left to feel with, that is. He was literally on life support. There was no more potential for human touch or experiencing life with his natural senses. His armor both protected and imprisoned him.

He didn’t just participate in a war. His own body was the war zone.

In light of the alarming rate of mass shootings in U.S. schools, a number of plans are being proposed. Some involve stricter regulations around guns and gun ownership. Other plans involve turning schools into barricaded fortress with armed teachers.

This online meme from a Twitter discussion captures the basic idea. @FoxNews issues the following, from Judge Jeanie Pirro: “We need to protect kids, & that means we’ve got to have metal detectors, we’ve got to have experienced cops…, & we’ve got to be able to have perimeter controls. We’ve got to have teachers who can carry a weapon & react to this kind of nonsense.” #Hannity

Journalist Scott Gilmore replied with: “That’s a prison. You’re describing a prison.”

These measures are perhaps what you would do in the temporary, extreme conditions of an actual war zone. It should never be accepted as a regular way of life.

There is a cost to living like Darth Vader. Every piece of armor replaces your own flesh and blood. Every wall between you and someone else means another wall between a part of your own self. You could drape armor over yourself, never leave home without packing firepower and be always on the lookout for danger. Somewhere along the line, perhaps in shades of gray, you lose your humanity and become a hunted beast— always on the lookout, always afraid, always griping this metal extension of your body tightly. No one can shoot you, no one can beat you . . . but is there any “you” left?

Whenever this happens, the gun has become an “essential” part of your life. It is a continuation of your own hand—it starts where your hand stops. It may be held around your heart. Or gut. The gun has in effect become a part of you. By definition—that’s what “essential” means. At this point, you will have taken a large step forward on the path to becoming like Darth Vader.

A gun may bring additional power and security, but it always comes with a cost. It’s important to weigh that cost before going down that rabbit hole. The gun demands a high price. It wants to become enmeshed into your identity. It wants your very soul.

Case in point: The way the Parkland, FL, students are being insulted, harassed and villified—when they are asking questions, speaking their voices and sharing their testimonies—all during this time of grief—tells me all I need to know about the gun lobby and its bought-and-paid-for politicians: Mean spirited, juvenile, heartless and ultimately selfish. There is no humanity left in the gun lobby. Or if there is, it is buried so far beneath its armor that it can barely breathe without it.

I don’t know what motivates the gun lobby, but it’s clearly not freedom. If they were concerned about freedom, they would be supporting these students’ free speech. Instead, they slander them and try their various smear, diversion and distraction tactics that have worked so well in the past. America may finally have had enough.

The Darth Vaderization of the gun lobby is complete. When grieving high school students are the subject of political spin and slander, there is no line of decency left that won’t be crossed. Anyone who comes between them and their gun is an enemy who must be discredited and destroyed. They live, and we die, for the gun. The gun no longer serves them—rather, they serve the gun. They worship the gun. It is supreme. All other concerns are in a far secondary place, if at all. Everything is negotiable except the wishes of the almighty gun. No other liberty or right matters other than the liberty to carry a gun—even the right to life itself.

Van Morrison sings “Ain’t it lonely when you’re livin’ with a gun?”

The song is Who Was That Masked Man? Fans of old westerns know that masked man was the Lone Ranger—aptly named.

Oh ain’t it lonely
When you’re livin’ with a gun
Well you can’t slow down and you can’t turn ’round
And you can’t trust anyone
You just sit there like a butterfly
And you’re all encased in glass
You’re so fragile you just may break
And you don’t know who to ask

Oh ain’t it lonely
When you’re livin’ with a gun
Well you can’t slow down and you can’t turn ’round
And you can’t trust anyone

You just sit there like a butterfly
You’re well protected by the glass
You’re such a rare collector’s item
When they throw away what’s the trash
You can hang suspended from a star
Or wish on a toilet roll
You can just soak up the atmosphere
Like a fish inside a bowl

When the ghost comes round at midnight
Well you both can have some fun
He can drive you mad, he can make you sad
He can keep you from the sun
When they take him down, he’ll be both safe and sound
And the hand does fit the glove
And no matter what they tell you,
There’s good and evil in everyone

Visit Frank Lesko’s website The Traveling Ecumenist.