Given the oppressive right wing’s insistence on adding a question regarding citizenship to the 2020 Census, then I suppose we should also be asking some other questions.
Let’s ask our potential “well regulated militia” whether each individual person in America owns a firearm; how many; of which militia they are a member (since it states right there in the Constitution that the armed band is “necessary to the security of a free state,”) and have they received any training in the use or the legal responsibilities of discharging a firearm.
These are useful things to know, to ensure that they are upholding their Constitutional rights and fulfilling their obligation to fellow Americans. We should ask if they’ve ever taken aim at someone, fired at them, hit or missed them, and if the shooting was successful, what was the outcome? Wound? Fatality? Justified? Charged? Convicted? Acquitted?
Questions like these help a mature nation sort out whether its Constitutionally endowed militia is indeed well-regulated, or just careening toward fratricide. It might be helpful if we could know the mood of the militiaman at the time the firearm was discharged. Fearful? Angry? Drunk? High? Gleeful? Remorseful? Vengeful? Suicidal?
We need not get into questions of a personal nature, such as: Do you sleep with your weapon? Have you considered or acted upon ammosexual thoughts? Have you accumulated more firearms than your neighbor because of envy, jealousy or feelings of inadequacy? Personal issues should be left to the militiaman and whoever is working up the psychological profile in preparation for the court case he or she will be facing as a result of the use of the firearm.
So when that Census taker comes around in two years, help us out. Answer all these questions. And please don’t brandish your firearm at the canvasser. They’re going to be under enough stress as it is. They also may be strapped.