Gun Control and the 2nd Amendment MYTH
15 Jan 13
The interpretation of the 2nd Amendment by the most zealous of gun "owners" is really a misinterpretation meant to fit their arguments. Even Justice Scalia points that out…someone they would expect to be on their side. There are laws and policies in place to regulate the ownership and use of firearms, and they’ve been in place for years. And personally, those laws/policies I believe are not subject to any conditions of the 2nd Amendment. Why? Because the 2nd Amendment basically says that citizens can physically and openly bear arms if there is a need to call up "militias" for whatever reason.
The reason I think that guns are such an integral part of American cultural fabric is because of the country’s history. Until probably around the early 1900’s, gun ownership and the open carrying of firearms was just a way of life…for the most part. And I just find it hard to tie that culture of guns in America specifically to the 2nd Amendment, because ironically we’ve always had some form of gun control in America.
[Excerpt from ‘The Atlantic’ Magazine]: "The Founding Fathers instituted gun laws so intrusive that, were they running for office today, the NRA would not endorse them. While they did not care to completely disarm the citizenry, the founding generation denied gun ownership to many people: not only slaves and free blacks, but law-abiding white men who refused to swear loyalty to the Revolution. For those men who were allowed to own guns, the Founders had their own version of the “individual mandate” that has proved so controversial in President Obama’s health-care-reform law: they required the purchase of guns. A 1792 federal law mandated every eligible man to purchase a military-style gun and ammunition for his service in the citizen militia. Such men had to report for frequent musters—where their guns would be inspected and, yes, registered on public rolls."
To me that means that even with 2nd Amendments rights, firearms can still be regulated. And the contemporary forms of gun regulation came about in 1967-68. I won’t go into why right now (requires a separate blog post), but in response to a 1967 incident, then California Gov. Ronald Regan said that he saw “no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons.” He called guns a “ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will.” In a later press conference, Reagan said he didn’t “know of any sportsman who leaves his home with a gun to go out into the field to hunt or for target shooting who carries that gun loaded.” The Mulford Act, he said, “would work no hardship on the honest citizen.”
So…with all of that said, here’s what I think — American citizens have the right to own firearms, but there MUST be guidelines and regulations in place to ensure the safety and well-being of ALL citizens. Handguns and rifles and shotguns are cool, but as a retired Soldier I see absolutely no reason for the private ownership of automatic weapons for the purpose of "defending one’s rights"…that argument makes no sense to me. I don’t even mind if folks use automatic weapons for recreational purposes (i.e. shooting at inanimate targets). But these over-hyped gun advocates are are spreading fear and anger because of PURELY political influences.Too many of them talk smack about killing people and starting a civil war if the black dude tries to "take away their guns and freedoms" … which is NOT what the gun control advocates are pushing for. So the whole debate has been negatively skewed from the beginning, and all the arguments are now circular.
Also, having had to understand human behavior and influence during my military career, it is almost comical to me how all these gun ownership radicals make so many open threats of violence in reaction to potential firearms regulations, but it is SO easy to see that they would freeze up like Frosty the Snowman without his hat if confronted with the situations in which they claim they would start killing folks. Hilarious…NOT!
But the concerns I have are not about mental health or all these other distraction issues…my concerns are the RESPONSIBILITY and MATURITY of gun owners. With comprehensive firearms awareness and safety training made available to any American legally eligible to owns guns, we arguably should be able to get past much of this confusion. But the one organization that had historically provided such awareness and training – the NRA – has become essentially a corporate lobbyists group in recent years. And it is primarily the NRA that is doing the most fear mongering and fact twisting.
Bottom line for me…both side of this issue have some valid arguments, but those arguments are too political and waaaaay too emotional. I obviously have my opinion, and I do my best to think holistically about gun control, but I refuse to jump actively into the neverending arguments among those folks who take firm and extreme stances on one side or the other…it is what it is…
*drops mic…walks off stage*
~D. GUIDRY [THE “SPOOK”]
3EYEVISION 