On Friday we awoke to another unspeakable mass murder, this time involving our precious children, and I have to believe it is, at last, sadly, the turning point we've been waiting for. We'll be having the conversation we should have kept going before, and this time something will get done. We will not stop until we get control over our fascination with owning military-type weapons.
On Friday, December 14, 2012 a 20-year-old man killed his mother, took guns from her collection, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School and deliberately shot it up, killing six adults and 20 children, most of them First Graders.
He took three guns into that school and methodically shot and killed 20 (yes, twenty) small children. He used weapons more suited to combat than to hunting or self-defense and he was able to do that because in the United States of America private citizens are allowed--even encouraged--to own combat weapons.
These are the types of guns he used:
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| Photo: New York DailyNews |
It's a solid fact that the United States--either through outright permission or through cowardice in the face of bullying opposition--has declared guns to be free agents, not subject to any but the most basic, toothless laws regarding safety or security or limitations.
How could that be? It could be because so many people, including politicians who are supposed to be up on those things, want to believe that one single clause in our constitution--the grievously misunderstood Second Amendment--says so.
This one:
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.
There is nothing in the Second Amendment about an individual's right to keep guns. Not unless that individual becomes a well-regulated state Militia of One.
There is nothing in the constitution that gives copyright rights to the National Rifle Association (NRA), allowing them to drop important words that tend to get in the way of their mad, skewed interpretation. ("A well-regulated Militia" sticks in their craw, undermining their entire premise, so it's out).
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| Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune |
We want to believe our constitution is not for sale, but, in fact, the NRA has found a way to own an entire amendment. It's now impossible to think of the Second Amendment without making a connection to the National Rifle Association. They use it to convince the gullible that the government is coming to take their guns and the only way to stop them is to invoke their "constitutionally guaranteed citizens' right to bear arms."
They've co-opted and corrupted a constitutional amendment and turned it against the very government that instituted it and implements it. (The original meaning, that is--having to do with giving the states the right to organize a militia--or, as we've come to know it, the National Guard).
The fact is, even if the Second Amendment were abolished, guns would not be banned in this country. Gun ownership is a long-established right, almost universally accepted and woven so tightly into our fabric there's no danger of a Great Unraveling. It won't happen.
Where we differ--often mightily--is in what kinds of guns should be legal for private citizens to own and how they should be regulated. Whenever a fresh gun-induced tragedy strikes, the argument starts all over again. Those on my side pick up the fight for smaller calibers and stricter gun control and the "assault weapons are guns, too" crowd digs in and buys more firepower, just to prove they can. It's now a multi-billion dollar industry, and the NRA, thanks to the politicians they own (along with--let's not forget--the Second Amendment), will go on daring us to try and do something about it. They have no fear, and why should they? They've never lost a battle yet.
I say let's take that dare. Right now. Today. While the memory of 20 little first graders and the six adults who died trying to protect them is still so raw it's making our hearts bleed.
In voices as loud as those gunshot booms resonating throughout the halls of the Sandy Hook Elementary School, we can demand the end to the sales of military weapons and the ammunition that goes with them. We can force the licensing of firearms, demand oversight at gun shows, and find a way to follow the paper trail for every gun owned in this country.
We don't need to ban all guns in order to get the assault weapons craze under control. The collectors want those big guns because they want them and they think that's reason enough to make it a right to own them. It's not.
The NRA has been pretty silent the last few days. In fact, they're downright invisible. They took down their Facebook page and they're not answering their Twitter-phone. If they're regrouping, trying to come up with some good reason why assault weapons shouldn't be banned, I can save them some trouble: There is no good reason.
Wanting to own one because its big and bad and exciting is not a good reason. Wanting to own one because you think the government is going rogue and you might need it to protect yourself and those around you is insanity.
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| Tom Toles, the Washington Post |
In case you missed the latest craziness coming out of my state, Michigan, I'm ashamed to report that on the day before the mass shooting in Newtown, our legislature passed a bill allowing guns in classrooms.
The legislation is the largest rewrite of Michigan’s concealed weapon law since lawmakers made hard-to-obtain permits much easier for adults to receive beginning July 2001. Applications exploded. There were 351,599 permit holders as of Dec. 1, one for every 20 adults.The time for talking is over. Now we act. We get it done.
Most of the attention on the new bill has focused on provisions allowing hidden handguns in places where they are now forbidden, such as schools, university dorms and classrooms, and sporting stadiums.
(Cross-posted at dagblog)
Amen!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mauigirl.
DeleteAs a man who has spent nearly his entire adult life under arms, a professional carrier of guns, who has guns and still carries a gun, I agree with every word you said.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would gleefully give up my guns if it meant never seeing another Newtown.
This is an issue with many facets, and we need to address every single one. Espcially, along wiht doing away with these weapons and things like extended drums, we need universal healthcare and the better access to mental health care that goes with it.
It's heartening to hear from a gun owner, and I appreciate what you've said here. We need to differentiate between gun owners and gun nuts. Nobody needs an arsenal.
DeleteI agree, too, about the need for better access to mental health care. We've let those people down and now it's time to pay the piper. We've gone on for too long treating mental illnesses like they're not nearly as important as physical illnesses.
You've articulated exactly what I've been unable to write about this. Guns are viewed as toys, big-boy's deadly toys, and gun manufacturers promote them as toy manufacturers promote the latest transformer toy.
ReplyDeleteTour governor would veto that damned bill, if he had a spine.
As you've probably seen, our governor did veto the gun bill. I'm not sure I can trust him, even about that. Seems he always has something up his sleeve.
DeleteWe have an obsession with big guns in this country and the statistics bear that out. We far outnumber gun ownership and gun crimes in other civilized countries. I remember when people in other countries used to look up to us. That's a thing of the past and I doubt if we'll ever get our reputation back.
Look at these television shows cropping up lately, "Top Shot", "Sons of Guns", and "American Guns". The guns are treated like toys, the targets explode, it's a great big toy fest.
ReplyDeleteBut theres no respect or treatment of the firearm as a weapon,no respect for it's lethality, it's just a really loud toy. Thats how most of these gun bunnies think of them.
As for these Doomsday preppers, they're all mentally ill. These people aren't stockpiling guns to put deer or small game on the table, they're keeping these military grade weapons for one thing: To kill the hordes of city people they imagine will flee the cities after the apocalypse and eat everything in their path.
So when the dear departed Mrs Lanza was taking her mentally ill son to the range and teaching him to shoot the .223 Bushmaster with the 100 round drum, she was training him to do what he did, kill a lot of innocent people.
Exactly. Everything you said. Thank you.
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