How many more times?
Another mass shooting of school kids, fourth grade!
What if it was your child, the one you sent off to school today, the one you expected to come home this afternoon.
What if it were your grandchild?
What if were your great-grandchild?
Are two days of talking about it enough? Is a Congress that can’t even muster enough votes to bring the issue to the floor acceptable to us? Is that what you want for a government response?
We must ask the questions. Yes, we have to wonder if this
is the country we want it to be. We must ask, “why us?”
We have a Second Amendment. It is written in plain English for all who read it to understand it: 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 the infringed.
We have all been in this discussion before. The Supreme Court has been down this road as well. In District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 the court ruled that Heller could keep a handgun in his home for safety reasons. In 2010 in McDonald v. City of Chicago the Court ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment applied to state and local governments as well as the federal system. But, hear the words written in those cases.
In Heller, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote: “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. [It is] not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” It ruled that some laws are “presumptively lawful” including prohibiting possession by dangerous people, possession in sensitive places like schools and government buildings, and imposing conditions on the commercial sale of firearms. In McDonald, the court again wrote that while Heller struck down a law prohibiting handguns in the home “it recognized that the right to keep and bear arms is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever, and for whatever purpose.”
The Second Amendment does not prevent the prohibition of gun ownership for everyone for any reason or the prohibition of regulations related to the manufacturing and importation of weapons.
Laws governing the purchase and ownership of guns in the U.S. are laughable at best. There is no way that a federal agency can do a thorough background check on a person in a matter of seconds. It should take weeks and it should occur before the purchase, not during the sale.
But, they say, we are different. Well, we aren’t different, but our laws are. Let’s look for distinctions.
Too many people in the U.S. are said to have mental problems which cause them to do untoward things. If we have lots of mental problems, wouldn’t you expect people in other countries to have mental problems as well? If they have mental issues but don’t have mass shootings on a nearly weekly basis, what is the distinction? What makes them different or unique? Oh, they don’t let every Tom, Dick, and Jane have guns without deep background checks, and they don’t have a lot of guns in the first place.
They say too many students in the U.S. are under pressure at school. It causes overwhelming stress that makes them do bad things. If that is the case, wouldn’t you expect students in other countries to do the same thing? But they don’t. What is the distinction between them and us? Every Janice and Jimmy don’t have access to military class guns at the tender age of 18.
Many people in the U.S. like to hunt. So do people in other countries. If you hunt you likely own a rifle, no matter the country. What is the distinction? For deer hunting you need a gun meant to shoot a deer, maybe a 30-30, you don’t need a military weapon designed to kill people. In the U.S. the military-style long gun is marketed as a hunting rifle.
Yes, we have mental illnesses that need to be addressed, and Congress refuses to do that. Yes, we need background checks to make sure that crazy people and dangerous people can’t buy guns. Congress refuses to allow that. Yes, we need to control the types of guns, and weapons, that are manufactured in the U.S., or imported from abroad. Congress refuses to do that. Yes, we need to better manage the sale of guns, and make all sales reportable. Congress refuses to do that.
When a Member of the House, a Senator, or a state legislator tells you they support the Second Amendment, but won’t vote for reasonable gun ownership regulations, they are lying to you. The Supreme Court has ruled that reasonable laws are OK. The Court has ruled that the Second Amendment rights are not unlimited. Anyone who refuses to enforce the Second Amendment as the Court has said may reasonably be assumed to be a recipient of money from the NRA, gun manufacturers, or similar groups. It’s a power thing.
So, what about the rancher who needs guns to protect the herd or the hunter who needs a rifle or shotgun? Let them have their guns as long as they can pass a real background check and don’t buy military weapons or take the handguns out of the home they say want to protect.
After the mass shooting in Texas this week, starting that
evening, there was a call for more armed guards at the schools. That was the
solution of choice that night to prevent more slaughters of our children. Think
about that!
Governors and Senators want to arm guards and teachers in
case a nut job wants to get into the school to kill young children. Not one of them
talked about how to prevent someone from having a military-style rifle at age 18
and then selling them clips that hold 30 rounds of ammunition or upselling three
or four more clips and the extra ammunition. Nobody wondered why the store
owner didn’t notify the police of the unusual sale. Because it is no longer
unusual? Is this the country we want to be in? Do we want to be an armed camp?
A young man goes to the store a few days after his 18th birthday, buys two guns designed to kill people, and walks into a school. He enters a fourth-grade class, locks the door, and shoots 19 young children and their two teachers. The President makes a heartfelt speech, denounced by extremists on the right. The Governor of Texas tells us how horrible the shooting was and then goes off to a gala fundraising event that evening. Politicians orate shooting and how awful they are. The nation takes a long gaping yawn! Nothing happens. Nothing changes.
Then we wait for the next shooting by someone with mental issues and long guns.
This is who we are. We say we aren’t, but we are.
Is this who we want to be?
It wasn’t always like this!
We can be better.
Let us find our better angels!
