Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing the ministry of magic, the wizarding world as a WHOLE, and guns.
In a world full of powerful spells that bear extreme destructive potential, I’ve always
wondered what the mindset is surrounding guns in the wizarding world. We don’t see guns
much, and I think that the most notable instance of a wizard showing their attitude towards
guns is when Hagrid bends Vernon Dursley’s shotgun in the Philosopher’s Stone. Hagrid’s
not even remotely afraid of the gun being pointed at him, but I don’t think that it’s
because he feels that he’s invulnerable to it-it’s because he knows that Vernon
is too much of a coward to actually properly pull the trigger and impale him. But, that
does sort of make me wonder- how destructive could a weapon like a gun actually be in the
wizarding world? Surely it wouldn’t overshadow magic, otherwise- witches and wizards would
be using guns just like muggles, right?
I did some digging online and there seems to be a general consensus among many fans
that at one point in time Rowling actually spoke on this matter, revealing that the power
of a gun, in many instances, outweighs the power of magic-specifically in the instance
of a duel:
“In a fight between a Muggle with a shotgun and a wizard with a wand, the Muggle will
win”
However, I’m really not sure of the legitimacy of this quote- I’d really have to find the
exact source to go by this. I’m also not convinced, I think that, though a gun could
bear some destructive potential, magic is so much more versatile. In the wizarding world
there also never seems to be much of an emphasis placed on the use of guns-it just isn’t
part of their culture.
The ministry of magic is the primary form of government in the magical world - at least
in the UK- and they are responsible for establishing and upholding all legislation pertaining to
the laws of the magical world. Other countries have a similar structure of government, but
have different names. I.e in the US there is MACUSA - The Magical Congress of the United
States of America. Like a muggle government, the ministry’s responsibilities are vast,
as they are the primary body that attempts to sustain law and order in the magical world-
and like any system of government, in an effort to cover as much ground as possible, the primary
governmental body is systematically divided to focus on different sectors of the wizarding
world.
There are ten levels of the ministry of magic in total, and the government has been around
for a LONG time, as the ministry of magic was preceded by the wizards council, the longest-serving
form of government that served britain. The wizards council eventually turned in to the
ministry of magic in the year 1707 as it needed an overhaul. It lacked structure and needed
to be brought in to more modern times.
However, what I’ve always found interesting about both forms of wizarding government that
have existed, is that there is no legislation at all pertaining to the use of guns. The
closest thing that the ministry of magic has is ‘the misuse of muggle artefacts office’,
but this is nothing. Guns are a MASSIVELY controversial item in muggle government, and
there is boatloads of legislation surrounding the possession, handling, use and trade of
guns. Given that the first recorded use of a firearm was in 1364, one would expect that
there would be SOMETHING more in place to control the use of such deadly weapons- not
just nothing at all, which is what it looks like.
We know that witches and wizards are not impervious to traditional physical harm- they get hit
by things (think bludgers), and often they aren’t physically different than a muggle.
They have the same skin, the same nerve endings, and they are just as vulnerable as a regular
person. Bearing this in mind, then I think it’s a safe bet to say that witches and
wizards ALSO wouldn’t be invulnerable to bullets. Given that witches and wizards possess
the ability to turn objects in to projectiles (think Voldemort and the glass in the ministry
atrium), who is stopping them from just grabbing say, a gun, and using that? Wouldn’t that
be more convenient?
First of all, I think that the primary reason that guns aren’t used by the LARGE majority
of witches and wizards, is the fact that it’s just, as I mentioned earlier, NOT a part of
their culture. They don’t exist anywhere- they’re not advertised, no one owns them,
there’s no legislation surrounding them, and certainly no one is using them. They grow
up in a world entirely devoid of weapons like that- and I suppose that aspect of muggle
culture just never found its way in.
However, we know of course that, in addition to the witches and wizards that have spent
their entire lives in the wizardling world, there are also witches and wizards that grew
up in the muggle world, and spent a considerable amount of time there before attending Hogwarts.
Presumably, these witches and wizards are at least familiar with muggle technology,
like guns- so if anyone were to consider using a weapon like a gun, then these would be the
people. So, why don’t these half-blood and muggle-born witches and wizards spice up the
battle against the death eaters, and pull out some guns?
I think that one of the reasons that guns are never used is because witches and wizards
don’t want to adopt that part of muggle society, or many other parts of muggle society
for that matter. The primary goal of the ministry of magic, and wizarding government, is upholding
the ‘statue of secrecy’ which upholds the divide between muggle and magical worlds.
This is best explained by Hagrid to Harry in the Philosopher’s stone:
"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual."
"There's a Ministry of Magic?"
"Course. They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts,
so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore
with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."
"But what does a Ministry of Magic do? "
"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards
up an' down the country."
"Why?"
"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're
best left alone."
What this means is that, among all other things that the ministry handles, their ultimate
responsibility is to ensure that there is a harmonious and distinctly segregated relationship
with the muggle world. Secrecy is of utmost importance. However, in this passage Hagrid
seems to suggest that the statue of secrecy is upheld because muggles would want things
from witches and wizards- they’d want ‘magical solutions’ to their problems, and who knows
what would come with that. However, I am of the stance that the statute of secrecy is
primarily upheld out of fear.
In Dumbledore’s copy of ‘The Wizard and the Hopping Pot’ , a short story write by
Beedle the Bard that focuses on wizarding/muggle relations, he scribbled in his own notes that
read:
"As the witch-hunts grew ever fiercer, wizarding families began to live double lives, using
charms of concealment to protect themselves and their families. By the seventeenth century,
any witch or wizard who chose to fraternise with Muggles became suspect, even an outcast
in his or her own community."
What this tells us is that, preceding the seventeenth century, the world was very much
wide open. The presence of witches and wizards was well known to muggles, and did muggles
welcome them in to their society? No- they hunted them down, and this is what effectively
coined the term ‘witch hunt’. They didn’t praise them for their magical ability, and
welcome them with open arms, they HUNTED them down because they were ‘different’, because
they were ‘freaks’. When the ministry of magic formed in 1707, proper regulation
was put in place that began to separate the two worlds- and the wizarding community wanted
to distance themselves from muggles AS MUCH as possible. This meant adopting as little
from their culture as possible, and this would include guns. Wands are distinctly a witch
and wizards item-it’s not anything that a muggle would have any use for, and I think
that by sticking with wands and avoiding guns, witches and wizards are holding on to a piece
of their identity. Like the way that purebloods are disgusted with the notion of muggle and
wizard breeding, I would imagine that it’d be a huge faux-pas to take advantage of muggle
technology.
I think that on some level, witches and wizards know that, if muggles wanted to take over-
they could. They are much weaker individually, and they rely on technology, but they massively,
and I mean MASSIVELY outweigh the wizarding population. They also happen to have technology
that DOES put them on more of a level playing field. Hogwarts, which is the primary introduction
to the wizarding world for muggle-borns, seems to place a huge emphasis on the importance
of the divide between the two worlds, and I think that this is for good reason. They’re
taught very early on that they are two completely different places, and need to be treated as
such. You can’t bring muggle values in to the wizarding world, in the same way that
you can’t bring wizarding values in to the muggle world, and I think that they know on
some level that using a gun, or any powerful muggle technology for that matter, would cause
imbalance.
The introduction of a powerful weapon like a gun to the wizarding society would cause
it to implode. I think that the morally righteous witches and wizards know not to use them for
this reason-they understand the importance of separation, and I think that morally dubious
witches and wizards would never touch them out of contempt. A death eater would be disgusted
by the prospect of using muggle technology.
And that’s it for this video, I hope you enjoyed it. What do you think? Why don’t
witches and wizards use guns in Harry Potter? Let me know down in the comment section below
Until next time
YER A WIZARD ARRY