'The Manhattan Project' and the debate about guns

More about guns — in a roundabout sort of way.

Thanks to the “magic” of the DVR, I have been re-watching The Manhattan Project in bits and pieces recently. It is one of those science-centered eighties dramas (complete with lasers!) that I loved watching when I was a kid. (It pales in comparison to Real Genius, though.)

In the movie, the government has covertly moved a plutonium refining lab to Ithaca, New York. The lead scientist, John Mathewson (John Lithgow), befriends a local real estate agent and her son Paul (Christopher Collet), who happens to be a high school-aged genius. Paul learns about the refining and steals a vial of plutonium with the help of Jenny (Cynthia Nixon), who plans to write an exposé about the operation. Paul, however, has another plan: he decides to become the first private citizen to join the nuclear club by building a nuclear bomb. Which he does, hoping to announce it at a science fair in New York City. His well-laid plans are foiled when Mathewson and the government realize plutonium is missing and suspect Paul of stealing it.

What does The Manhattan Project have to do with guns? Well, I feel its themes of mutually-assured destruction and the development of weapons are also relevant to our national debate about guns.

In response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook, the NRA essentially said we need more guns to prevent future school shootings and gun violence in general. It seems counter-intuitive, but it is the exact same reasoning that fueled the arms race during the Cold War: to prevent nuclear war, we needed to stockpile nuclear weapons to protect ourselves. If the Soviets resolved to nuke us, they knew we would do the exact same to them; the most likely result would be a horrific strategic stalemate. “You can’t win a nuclear war” was the message from another eighties favorite of mine, WarGames. Whether the rationale of mutually-assured destruction had much influence on the peaceful resolution of the Cold War is debatable, but the concept is alive and well on the micro level in the United States, and many Americans practice it on a daily basis, walking around with a holstered gun prominently displayed for all to see. The message they send is clear, and the same we traded with the Soviets: mess with me at your own peril.

Gun control advocates hate the NRA’s reasoning, but there does seem to be some kernel of truth to it. I mean, have you ever heard of a mass shooting at a gun show? Perhaps they have happened, but I cannot recall any recent incidents. In comparison, there have been at least three school shootings in the past couple months.

At the same time American gun lobbyists call for more guns, for more people to arm themselves for protection, the US is one of many nations imposing sanctions against Iran and North Korea because of their efforts to develop nuclear technology. In fact, there is speculation that Israel and the United States may, to put it lightly, “intervene” in Iran sometime this year. (People have been saying that since 2004, but whatever. The prospect always seems to be around the corner.) Basically, we and our nuclear club allies (excluding Russia and China to a certain extent) do not want Iran or North Korea to possess nuclear arms or technology. Why? Because they shouldn’t. They are not to be trusted. It is okay for certain nations — including our own — to have nuclear weapons, but not Iran and North Korea. Or those other freaks.

Seems brutally ironic, no? The same nation that has a constitutional amendment granting citizens the right to bear arms is trying to prevent others from doing the same abroad. It was the publicly stated reason we invaded Iraq, no?

Weapons of mass destruction, nuclear or otherwise, are appalling no matter what, and there is no way I will defend Iran or North Korea’s nuclear pursuits. But our national double-standard is too glaring not to notice.

As for The Manhattan Project? Everything works out in the end, as it usually does in movies. (Though kind of far-fetched, it is a decent enough eighties movie.) Too bad that does not happen more often in real life.