There are currently over 600 MPs in the UK. Right now, they're rather busy and deeply unpopular, but regardless of the circumstances, they exist.
It's a statistic that makes me question why we're constantly subjected to seeing the same handful on every news item, radio phone-in and newspaper article.
Yesterday, Conservative MP Mark Francois popped up on our screens (again). He was discussing the vote on the EU Withdrawal Treaty and was on his usual bullish form, but really took things up a notch when he said this:
"I wouldn't vote for it if they put a shotgun in my mouth."
It's what we've come to expect from the man elected by 36,914 people in Rayleigh & Wickford. Previous interviews have seen him invoke World War II when discussing the thoughts of a German businessman and remind us how unwilling to lose he is because of his time in the Territorial Army.
It's interesting that Mr Francois can't speak about his job without referring to war, the military or armed abductors. But that wasn't what struck me most. It was the notion that, for this particular politician, his answer to the question of whether or not he could change his mind was that he wouldn't even if there was a shotgun in his mouth.
Quite rightly, his "shotgun" remark prompted suicide prevention minister Jackie Price-Doyle to urge ministers to "tone down" their language around Brexit.
"All MPs have a responsibility to be careful about the language we use. If we cannot discuss important matters without resorting to violent or aggressive terms something is wrong," she said.
"People are more aware of mental health issues nowadays and MPs referring to death in the context of Brexit is inappropriate. They should tone it down."
While it's tempting to think this cautionary intervention only applies to Mr Francois, the Brexit entrenchment aside (see, I too like a military metaphor from time to time), it struck me that perhaps he wasn't that different to many of us, myself included.
I wonder how often, when faced with an alternative opinion, I choose to plant my feet rather than lean in?
I wonder how often, when my position is challenged, I take a battle stance rather than an affirming one?
I wonder how often, when faced with the chance to reach out to a new idea or the person holding it, I instead reach for a metaphorical shotgun?
Politics might be all we can think about right now, but of course this idea goes beyond that. As people of faith we can find ourselves faced with all sorts of challenges to our opinions, ideas, even our beliefs. When faced with these alternatives, I wonder how often we choose the Francois school of defence over deference. Warfare over willingness. Finding ourselves unwilling to even engage with the prospect of changing our mind, although our imagination finds no such limit in how dangerous our perceived opponent or their ideology is.
The theologian Pete Enns says this: "If having faith means holding on to certainty, when certainty is under "attack," your only option as a good Christian is to go to war - even if that means killing your own." Or in the case of Mark Francois, imagining your own being willing to kill you.
For those of us who follow Jesus, the temptation to retreat into certainty is certainly appealing. Having the "right answers", knowing "the truth" can be incredibly reassuring, but it can make real relationship with those who see it differently difficult, if not impossible.
And while disagreeing on the commentary can be fun, dividing the community or disqualifying from the communion can never be an outcome we chase or cherish.
And so I wonder if we need to put the shotguns down. Better still, let's melt them down and turn them into something better. More chairs for the table or maybe a bigger table itself.
Like turning swords into ploughshares, or shotguns into sharing platters, if we're willing to offer up our immovable opinions and allow them to be transformed into interesting conversations I wonder if something won't be changed...even if it isn't our minds.
Matt White is a Northern Irish TV producer living in Essex and working in London. Follow him on Twitter @mattgwhite
