ABSTRACT
In the United States, the capacity of guns-as-signs to stand in for other realities is demonstrated par excellence. For the four decades since 1972, attitudes towards guns have steadily gained ground as a predictor of American voting preferences. The psychic power of guns derives in no small part from their function as prostheses. Broadly conceived, a prosthesis is a mechanism for extending and magnifying human efficacy in the world. Guns qua tools are singularly efficacious prostheses for dramatically projecting human power. Bracketing all other moral or political considerations, it is important to acknowledge that there is indeed something properly awe-inspiring in how guns qua prosthetics empower and extend a human’s ability to interact with their environment. A chimp can chuck a rock about 20 mph, and Major League Baseball pitchers can throw fastballs at upwards of 95 mph.
