Every Gun is Sacred Every Gun is Good?
Originally Posted on The Blog of Progress
Guns. What is it about these devices of death and devastation that makes Americans fall in love? The Second Amendment is often hailed as the actual Cornerstone of the Constitution. So many people in this Nation often stress the importance of the Second Amendment over the First. Clever marketing slogans often feel that the 2nd Amendment is there to protect the First,. Why are guns so important to the fabric of DNA? Is it truly just about protection? A need for self defense in a crazy world? Does having a gun really make us safer? Are the Red Coats still coming? Still after a bloody 2012 there seems to be a Change of Seasons in America. People are realizing that maybe the glorification of arms can actually lead to excess tragedy. This is evident especially considering the very emotional crescendo in the State of the Union Address where President Obama placed the very wild notion that maybe just maybe those who have fallen victims to the 2nd Amendment need a voice in America. That maybe perhaps and this sounds a little crazy The 2nd Amendment may not be good for America after all.
After the State of the Union Address it is clear the question of gun control lingers. The year 2012 was full of senseless death and tragic shootings at the hands of America’s obsession. The gun even more than the car is part of American culture. It is a part of that rugged Ayn Rand frontier individualism that we grown up with as Americans and so many embrace. The Second Amendment was envisioned as a method of defense (even though some say its origin has a highly racist motive). People feel empowered for some reason by the Gun, people feel a God like [power to be able to take a life just by pulling a trigger. Yet there seems to be a new reality unfolding in the year 2013, many are realizing that leaving gun control in the hands of the NRA has simply caused more wanton violence rather than salvation. The reforms touted by the President in reality are quite tepid, background checks, a ban on certain magazines and models, etc.. there are simple and modest reforms that do not even touch or question the 2nd Amendment as re-imagined by the Roberts Supreme Court (you know Guns for all not militias). Yet the reforms would be a start into a deeper dialogue. A way to perhaps move guns back to its original intent of the 2nd Amendment. The people of this Nation re beginning to grow weary of the mass glorification and ultimately the usage of guns to kill innocent people and take lives.
But what about self defense? What about the Black helicopters landing in our backyards and taking our lives? Does the need for assault weapons really come from a need to fight back against the New World Order? Do we need to have it to fight against a government that wants to kill its own people? There is a certain subculture in America that feels this way. They often cite that the first sign of a totalitarian regime is the banning of all guns, and taking guns away from citizens. However the truth is a government will use other quieter methods of power and control whether a population is armed or unarmed. In fact the irony is that most of the people who are for the 2nd Amendment are actually supporters of the Patriot Act and believers in increasing the power and might of the military., which is far more dangerous than a society where gun ownership is limited.
We are now in the year 2013. We live whether we like it or not in a massive world superpower for better or for worse. Our society has grown more civilized, and the 2nd Amendment seems every day more and more like a byproduct of a more dangerous time. Technology has also made weapons more dangerous. The weapons that supposedly every citizen has the right to bear, were of a much simpler design and did not inflict as much damage as the weapons which now proliferate our society. The time has come for the people to take a look at the 2nd Amendment and realize that it is also written in such a fashion that within the confines of the “sacred right” there is room for control and adaptability. And maybe just maybe further down the road the irrational fear may start to wane and we may even consider a gun control ala United Kingdom or Japan (radical for Americans I know), but one can only hope that the next few years bring a renaissance in civility