Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach — Guns
Guns
In less than two years, we lose more people to gun violence in the USA than we lost in over fifteen years of combat in Vietnam.
Given the insanity of our lack of gun regulation, we should pay attention to three things:
- The success of other nations – such as Japan, Australia, and most European nations – in restricting gun ownership without severely hampering individual rights, and
- Our own commitment to registering motor vehicles AND the drivers of those vehicles to enhance safety and accountability is well-known. We not only require driver training and licensure, but we require the vehicles also to be serial-numbered, licensed, inspected, and accounted for. Not even the NRA contests the reasonableness of this practice in regard to motor vehicles.
- The Second Amendment was written at a time when firearms were single-shot, when an accomplished user could maybe get off three shots in a minute, and when the idea of spewing hundreds or even thousands of rounds a minute was inconceivable. It needs also to be noted that the ONLY purpose of that Amendment was to arm legitimate state militias. A major reason for the existence of the 2nd Amendment was to empower slaveholders to maintain and discipline their “property.” Applying the standards of 230 years ago to those of today would be akin to requiring women today to stay at home and be unable to vote or hold office.
The proposals to require gun owners to be trained, insured and licensed, along with requirements for guns to be serial-numbered, licensed, and accounted for, are no more onerous or unnecessary than in the case of motor vehicles and drivers. Universal and nationwide background checks that forbid sales to people under 21, to domestic abusers, to people diagnosed as mentally ill, and to members of certain extremist groups, combined with waiting periods of at least one or two weeks, would be minimum requirements for our safety.
In the late 1990’s congress forbade the CDC to do research on the statistics surrounding gun deaths, and that policy is still largely in place. This is an illogical, partisan, and blindly stupid policy, and desperately needs to be rescinded.
Rabid defenders of unfettered gun rights who point to the Second Amendment seem to disregard the phrase, “A well-regulated militia.” They fail to grasp that a well-regulated militia is not the same as a lone gunman or a fascist-inspired group of malcontents. In fact, the National Guard is today’s incarnation of a well-regulated militia. That being the case, private ownership of guns may still be permitted for things like hunting or personal protection; but personal ownership of automatic or semi-automatic weapons – designed solely for offensive warfare – is clearly outside of any reasonable bounds. (While there have been a couple of supreme court opinions that seem to side with the insanity of the NRA, that does not mean those opinions are any more correct than those reached in the Dred Scott case, in Plessy vs Ferguson, or – more recently – in Citizens United. The first two have been overthrown, and the last is bound to be thrown into the same historical dustbin.)
Our gun-death rate of about 33,000 per year dwarfs the death rates of all other “advanced” nations COMBINED. For example, our annual gun-death rate of about 10 per 100,000 people annually compares badly with that of Australia’s fraction of one death per 100,000 after the passage of strict gun regulation following a mass shooting in 1996. Also, we have become so numbed to school shootings that they barely register on the news or on our national consciousness any more. (Parkland may prove to be an exception to that.)
Continued in Part 11 — Healthcare & VA
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Return to Part 4 — Congress
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Return to Part 7 — Lying and Ethics
Return to Part 8 — Sexism and LGBT
Return to Part 9 — Abortion & Church/State
Go to Part 12 — Big Pharma
Go to Part 13 — Environment
Go to Part 14 — Energy
Go to Part 15 — Education
Go to Part 16 — Economics
Go to Part 17 — Unions, Safety Net
Go to Part 18 — Homelessness
Go to Part 19 — Trade, Tariffs
Go to Part 20 — Media
Go to Part 21 — War, National Security
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Above is the tenth of numerous submissions wherein I suggest ways our country, our government, and the world can be made better. I am an old fart in my 70’s and have seen much: the turmoil of the 1960’s; Vietnam (where I served as an infantry officer and was awarded a purple heart and other medals); the anti-Vietnam protests (in which I participated while still in uniform); Watergate, the rise of the right wing attack on the poor and powerless during and after the Reagan years; the continued wars in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan and pretty much everywhere else; the Clinton years, the invasion of Iraq in 2002 and the never-ending war since; the brief glow of sunshine during the Obama years; and now Trump. While my dog in this fight is getting long in the tooth, I still deeply care about three things: my country, my country’s honor, and the future we leave to our descendants. My personal history, other than military service, includes college teaching, computer support, hospital IT supervision, consulting, and now — in my retirement — substitute teaching.
I make my recommendations in all seriousness, recognizing that most of them are not immediately attainable. Nevertheless, if we elect people who share our values as our representatives at all levels of government, we can accomplish much.