Gun Control

Another tragedy has brought the topic of gun control to the forefront.  It needs to be in the forefront until changes are made to provide a safer country for all of us.  Let’s start with some facts.

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that reads:  

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. 

It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights. When our forefathers included this clause, its purpose was to make sure that the federal government could not disarm state militias, in other words to keep government in the hands of the people.

Then in 1792, the Congress enacted the Militia Acts of 1792 allowing "free able-bodied white male citizen" into the militia and required such citizens to procure "a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch with a box therein to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball;..."

In the 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a gun for personal use, unconnected with service in a militia. It also specifically stated that individuals have the right to keep a loaded gun at home for self-defense.  This is a deviation from the intentions of the Second Amendment. 

Fast forward to 2012.  Our country and the world just saw, once again, that there will be mass shootings again and again, and we are not doing enough to stop it from happening.  Why?  Let’s start with assault weapons.  Many of these sprees were carried out with assault weapons.  The NRA has a lot of influence, power, and money and they are against the Assault Weapon Ban. The NRA focuses on a citizen’s right to defend oneself.   Do they believe that every household should have an assault weapon for protection?  Banning assault weapons does not infringe on our Second Amendment rights.  Why can’t the NRA work with the legislators and use its power and influence to make some needed changes for everyone’s safety?  Seriouly NRA, assault weapons are ok?

It goes without saying that James Holmes, a PhD student and the shooter in the recent Aurora spree, is insane, as are all the other shooters in our string of mass murders.  But what are also insane are our gun laws.  Why can’t we make that connection?  This should not be a partisan issue.  We need to take a long hard look at our gun laws and update them to the times we live in, to keep us safer.  Republicans can be good republicans and support gun control laws.

The United States is one of the few developed countries that allow firearms in the hands of the public.  Astoundingly, about 45% of American households have guns, and these are only the registered gun owners that we know about.

Looking at some other countries, Canadian gun laws are among the toughest in the world, especially since the Firearms Act of 1995 has come into full effect. The UK also has some of the toughest gun control laws in the world. If you want to own a gun, you need to spend hours filling in paperwork and proving to police officers that you are not a danger to society, whereas in the United States, you can declare that it is your ‘constitutional right to bear arms’. As a matter of fact, according to research from 2011, only South Africa, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Honduras, Guatemala, Swaziland, Brazil, Panama, Estonia, and Mexico had more fire-arm related deaths than the US.  These include homicide, suicide, and unintentional deaths.  I am not happy that our country is grouped up there with these countries in regard to their gun violence.

Almost anyone in the US can buy a gun or an assault weapon, ammunition, and go on a shooting spree. The NRA has fought tooth and nail not to allow proper thorough background checks on people wanting to buy a gun.  Why?  It certainly could not hurt.  Here is another suggestion for the NRA – support thorough background checks.  Even if there is no indication or record of this person being crazy…yet...we allow the opportunity to provide him the means to do a crazy thing, hurting and killing innocent people.   It does not make sense.  Although background checks are only one part of the process, in my opinion, we also need to look closely at how many guns we allow, how many one individual needs to protect himself, and the reasons for allowing these guns in the hands of almost anyone over the age of 21. 

I would also just like to point out that the NRA also supports guns for hunting purposes.  This has nothing to do with second amendment rights.  It is a separate topic and I wish that it would be kept separate.  Period.

So when is it going to change?  What can we do?  For starters, don’t make gun control a partisan issue.  Vote in legislators who ‘get it’ that the world has changed since 1791 in oh-so-many ways, and we need to keep up with those changes.  We seem to be keeping up technologically; why can’t we keep up with safety?  It is not simple and won’t be done overnight, but we need to do all we can to make our country safer, not only from mass shootings, but from homicides too.  As always, this is my two cents.

I don't need any of these to protect myself.  What about you?