I feel as if I have been writing this post since 1999 after the Columbine High School Shooting as that is the first really major shooting incident at a school in my memories. My child was 2 years old at this time and I had a lot of other things going on in my life, but I remember being shocked that anything like this could happen. Here, in the mighty United States of America students at a High School were dead at the hands of their peers.
This event seemed to set the stage for how we would react for quite some time to come as events like this became so ordinary that schools developed training and drills much as they have for handling natural disasters like Earthquakes, Tornadoes, and Fire.
It’s Not Just a Mental Health Issue, it is Also a Gun Issue
I am going to just jump right into the meat of this post as we have beaten the Mental Health aspect of these attacks to death and we still have not addressed the bigger problem that facilitates these atrocities. Guns.
An all too common denominator with these attacks are that they were carried out with one or more guns and sometimes improvised explosives. These guns were not stolen or bought in back street deals; no, they were purchased through legal channels, from stores that are licensed to sell firearms in this country. I will capitulate that in a couple of instances those weapons were not purchased by the assailant, but in many of these cases they were allowed access by the legal owner of those weapons and thus were able to bypass checks that could have prevented them from arming themselves.
Ask yourself if these kinds of attacks would have happened if the assailant did not have access to the weaponry they used. If all they could use were less lethal devices would there have been any deaths at all? I think we all know the answer to these questions is that no, they would not have happened or if they had the fatalities would have been non-existent or considerably less. Not to mention that the ability to apprehend someone with a less lethal weapon is much easier and is much less risky for those involved in stopping them.
This conversation is about guns, and it needs to be about guns, and it needs to be about how we stop this from happening every again!
The Right to Bare Arms Does Not Mean Any Arms!
The full text of the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution reads:
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.
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-2/
Let’s pick this apart shall we?
A Well Regulated Militia
So many extremists and pro-gun groups take this to mean that anyone that wants to create an armed group of people and call it a militia can. The major flaw with this concept is how is any of that ”regulated”? Simple, it’s not.
Most States have adopted the National Guard as their Well Regulated Militia and this is something that has been accepted by the voters in each state. The choice to adopt the National Guard in this way takes a lot of the funding off of the State as the National Guard is Federally funded. States can operate other militias but they cannot be mobilized for federal service and cannot receive Federal funding which means the State would have to fund this militia through the only means they have, taxes. Police departments are a good example of a local militia.
Groups of people that have chosen to privately arm themselves and get together with other gun toters is not a ”Well Regulated Militia”. How can you tell? Define how these groups are ”Regulated” in any way shape or form.
The Right to Keep and bear arms
This is the part that the Un-Regulated militia types always like to tout when discussing gun rights and they always misinterpret this as their having the right to keep and bear any arms.
I happen to be a gun owner and I am thankful that I am privileged to have the right to own these weapons. The thing is I do not have these weapons because I am afraid that our Government is going to become so tyrannical that I will need to use them to go to war, which is the view point of the Un-Regulated Militia’s I mentioned earlier.
I have two pistols primarily because I enjoy the challenge of poking holes in pieces of paper from long distances. As an added benefit I also use them for protection when I go camping, and if absolutely necessary to defend my family in our home.
I do not feel the need to have a firearm on me when I go out to the grocery store, or to take part in community events. This is primarily because I have a certain trust in my community and that with proper laws in place the safety of myself, my family, and my community is assured.
Regulation is not Infringement
Another argument I hear from the Un-Regulated Militia types is that any legislation that would restrict the type of guns or ammunition one can one is infringing on their Second Amendment rights. This point I feel is one that needs to be absolutely defined further so as to not be mis-interpreted as it so often is.
In 2008, the Supreme Court started the conversation on this with their ruling on the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. Though I am not sure how good the rest of this ruling was, one thing that did come out of it was the statement by the court:
that the right to bear arms is not unlimited and that guns and gun ownership would continue to be regulated.
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
So, with this decision by the court why do we still have weapons of such deadly capacity still available to so many people? Why is it so easy to arm one’s self and commit atrocities like we just had to live through, again?
It boils down to one thing. Money.
Guns Have More Rights Than Most of Us
I am not leaving you hanging there, money is a big part of why this issue is so hot and it’s not just the people getting rich off of selling guns or preventing meaningful legislation from being passed that are the problem.
Local Government Cannot Afford Litigation
During my time as a member of the Aberdeen City Council in Washington state there were two times I was confronted with issues where guns were involved and I felt that more action should have been taken.
The first was at a peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration where the demonstrators were confronted and threatened by an opposing group that showed up to supposedly support the police officers and prevent ANTIFA from causing problems. You can watch for yourself what happened at https://www.facebook.com/1074215660/videos/10219005068972380/.
What I saw in this video were armed citizens disrupting a peaceful demonstration and violently threatening the people that were just there using their words and expressing their right to gather and demonstrate peacefully. I saw people carrying weapons in a very unsafe manner and also in such a way that was in violation of State Law that regulate how and when you can carry a firearm in public. I saw armed terrorists on the streets of the city I called home disrupting our lives.
I did the only thing I could really do which was to report this to our police chief and request that something be done, the response I got was beyond astonishing. I was told that the people in the video did not appear to be in violation of any laws and that the City was not willing to take action that could wind up with them being sued over 2nd amendment infringements. Essentially the City of Aberdeen was unwilling to take action because of the cost associated with potential litigation.
The second time was much more personal as it involved many outside groups including The Proud Boys invading the City to supposedly protect the owner of a store that I, as a private citizen and not representing the City, confronted because they had a hateful, transphobic sign in their store.
The day these groups came in there was supposed to be another peaceful demonstration by the LGBTQIA+ community to stand against bigotry and hatred. The people in these groups do not carry firearms and do not use violence to spread their message.
I received a call from the City’s Chief of Police to discuss the demonstration and ask that it be called off due to these other groups that were coming to town that could become violent against the peaceful demonstration. He was again concerned that the use of firearms would become an issue and that the City could become part of law suit if anyone felt that their 2nd amendment rights were being violated.
We were basically bullied and terrorized by these gun toting terrorists again! We were denied any justice again! The guns it turned out had more rights than we did.
Things Need to Change!
Though many States are coming up with gun regulation, we need to see meaningful legislation at the Federal level to end the debate over the 2nd amendment once and for all. We need meaningful changes across the entire country to ensure everyone’s lives are protected. We need Congress to police itself and have meaningful actions that can be taken against those legislators that would rather protect private interests rather than pass laws that actually help our country to progress forward and protect those that are living or visiting here.
