- the second amendment

April 3, 2011

Article the Second

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.

I’m not against guns.

I’m against idiots with guns.

I’m not against the right for citizens to own and keep guns.

I’m against citizens owning and keeping guns like AK-47’s that have only one purpose: to kill as many people as possible in as little time as possible.

I’m not against gun ownership.

I’m against irresponsible gun ownership, such as the people who allow children to get hold of loaded weapons to the tune of 500 kids killed a year through gun accidents, not including homicide or suicide.

I don’t argue with the idea that “guns don’t kill.  People kill.”

I do argue that it’s a lot harder to kill someone without a gun.

All that being said, let’s look at the long-standing disagreement about the interpretation of the fourth amendment, which reads above:

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.

For those who support the NRA and love to play paintball so you can play “war” like we did in 5th grade, yes, I see the words that read  the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.  Those words seem to indicate that our founding fathers wanted average citizens to keep themselves armed and ready.  But why?  Just…because?  Not so.

You can’t ignore the first half, which reads A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.  The first half of the fourth amendment clearly, I repeat, clearly shows that the purpose of “the people to keep and bear arms” is to have a militia.  It also clearly states that the purpose of the militia is for the security of a free state.  That doesn’t mean security against the guy who you think might possibly rob you in the Harrah’s Casino parking lot.  It means security in case this “free state” is attacked by another “state.”  Free or not.

If it makes you feel cool or powerful to own a gun, great, good luck.  But at least keep it locked and safe.  And at least get one that’s not designed to kill a small village in about four seconds.

Am I asking too much?

Leave a Comment » | gun lobby, kids, parenting | Permalink
Posted by brainsnorts

when the government would rather protect votes than children

July 7, 2006

Eager Helpers for the Gun Lobby

(copied from the new york times July 7, 2006)

Childproof trigger locks on handguns should rank somewhere near mom and apple pie as a measure of the nation’s wholesome dedication to life. But not in the House of Representatives, where the gun lobby cowed lawmakers into actually barring the use of federal funds to enforce an existing law that requires child trigger locks to be sold with all handguns. This late-night treachery just before the July 4 recess means that federal agents will not have the resources to confront one of the deadliest facts of American family life: 10 young people die each day in gun homicides, suicides and accidents.

The rate of firearm death for children 14 years and under is almost 12 times higher in this country than in 25 other industrialized nations combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet there was the law-and-order majority caving in to the gun lobby.
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, the Colorado Republican who dared to put this proposal on the floor, offered a shabby logic: locks on weapons don’t stop the slaying and maiming of children, they only make “personal protection more costly.”

She drew 42 Democrats to join 188 Republicans in the majority with an argument that summoned an old “Saturday Night Live” skit about a sleazy toy dealer peddling lethal toys to children.

“Many things around the home are dangerous when used without proper instructions or supervision,” Ms. Musgrave said. “But it is not the government’s job or responsibility to mandate every conceivable protective mechanism imaginable.”

Surely the Senate will not endorse this nonsense when it arrives from the House.

2 Comments | gun lobby, NRA, second amendment | Permalink
Posted by brainsnorts

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