by Dee Newman
Less than a week ago, our hearts were aching as the dawn was breaking over Aurora, Colorado. With frightening, rapid-fire frequency another gunman wielding an assault weapon forced us all, once again, to face the consequences of our irrational acceptance of inadequately unregulated firearms in our culture.
Today, our attention has move on to another headline.
Today, our attention has move on to another headline.
On December 15, 1791, the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, was adopted. It read:
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.
Disregarding “a well regulated Militia,” an "arm" in the minds of the Founding Fathers, was a rifle musket or hand gun that fired only one shot; to fire again (as my friend Jack recently pointed out) required another minute of reloading.
Those advocating “gun-rights” need to be honest. Our founding fathers, 221 years ago, could not imagine a fully automatic assault weapon fitted with a drum magazine capable of holding more than a hundred rounds of high caliber ammunition.
Nor could they imagine an individual masked and fitted from head to toe with para-aramid synthetic fiber walking into a multiplex theater armed with a Smith & Wesson M&P .223 semi-automatic rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a Glock .40-caliber handgun.
As a gun owner who has been licensed by the State of Tennessee to carry a concealed weapon, I am outraged by what “we” have allowed to happen in this country. Nearly fifty people, each and every day, are murder by guns in this country.
The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired on September 13, 2004. Since then, there have been numerous attempts to renew the ban. Unfortunately, no bill has reached the floor of the House or Senate for a vote.
Though we may not be the most violent nation on the face of the earth, we are certainly one of them. We revel in it. We are entertained by it. Yes, we go to the movies to watch it.
Granted, as the NRA says, "guns do not kill; people do." But, when will it dawn on us that a person with an automatic or semi-automatic weapon kills more effectively and efficiently. Certainly, a great deal more proficiently than with a flintlock rifle or hand gun.
4 comments:
I'd like to make a couple of related comments. Hunting with an assault weapon is not hunting. It is assassination.
Also, even if automatic weapons were pulled off the market and made illegal, many semi-automatic rifles can easily be fitted with a grenade launcher.
I think it could also be demonstrated that American firearms dealers make a fortune by selling assault weapons south of the border and many cartels there have their own militia armed with American assault weapons.
We were talking about the same thing over the weekend about muskats and the well-regulated militia. And what Myth said was also pointed out. I wonder if universal access to speedy, good mental healthcare would help too.
No assault weapon control bill will ever reach the floor for vote as long as it displeases the NRA. Remedy: let's all become members of the NRA and turn their policy around.
I like Hilke's idea...let's infiltrate the organization....!!!
Post a Comment