My Thoughts on Gun Control

I believe most people who think and talk about gun control are missing an important point. First of all, let me quote the highest law in the land:

Amendments To The Constitution Of The United States

Amendment II
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.

That’s all of it. This one sentence is the only reason you and I can own a gun. On the face of it, this seems a simple enough statement, but have you considered what the people who wrote it really meant? Why such a thing would even exist? I don't believe there was any precedent for it in any previous law in any country.

The folks who drafted and adopted this as the highest law of this land had just fought and won a bloody and destructive war of independence. One of the tactics used by the British was to forbid the Americans arms. Guns were against the law in the American colonies of Britain. That's what this amendment is about.

The people who wrote this knew that Britain, or any of a dozen other world powers of the era, could easily overrun the US capital or any state capital.  They also knew that as long as the population was armed nobody could impose rule on them without their consent. They had just proven this in the most dramatic way possible.

Please take note of the term "free State" in the above second amendment text. This could mean many different things, but the drafters of the second amendment didn't include any definition. Apparently they believed "the people" would know if they were free.

My point, and the one I think many people are missing is: the "right to bear arms" has NOTHING to do with hunting, collecting, target shooting, any sport, or the protection of self, family or property from criminals. It exits soley to allow "the people" to protect themselves from governments that would take their freedom without their consent.

Many people would make arguments that "things have changed," and many things have. One of the things that has not changed is human nature, and part of human nature is the urge to control others. Nobody seriously believes the United States will be invaded any time soon. There are however, more ways to remove freedom and to invade than landing troops on the beaches. If "the people" give up this last recourse for the defense of their rights, then what is to prevent some future government from usurping all freedom? The Courts? The Congress? The President? The military? From where I stand, all of these appear to suffer the same flawed nature and are much more likely to be part of the problem than any sort of solution.

The fact remains that there is a problem in this country. People are hurting each other with guns at an unconscionable rate. Something MUST be done. Until sometime in the 1920s it was legal for citizens of the United States to own fully automatic weapons. Then wave after wave of shootings by organized crime gangs led to the passage of a law (the National Firearms Act) banning ownership of fully automatic weapons. Has the passage of this law helped? Did it stop or even slow gangs using guns? Will more of the same help? I think not.

For what it's worth, I suggest that every registered, able bodied voter be REQUIRED to complete a course in gun handling and marksmanship comparable to the one I went through in basic training in the military. In the days when the second amendment to the Constitution was written, people learned to handle and shoot guns as a basic social skill. It was often the way they got dinner. It was as ubiquitous then as driving a car is today. That skill of "the people" has largely been lost, and that is one of the things that has changed. Perhaps if "the people" can loose some of their (completely justified) fear of guns and gain some respect for what guns are and knowledge of the correct way to handle them, they won't be so ready to throw away their last recourse in defense of freedom.

Even if this were to happen it would only help, not solve the problem. If we want to stop people from doing violence to each other with guns (and other ways) then we must stop giving them reasons to do violence. It may be possible to give everybody in this country hope and faith and purpose enough to make them content to give up violence. I believe this country has had periods in the past when this has largely been the case.  If this were easy to do it would have been done already.  It is the only way violence can be stopped. The solution to violence is in the hearts and minds of "the people" not in the plastic and steel of the tools that simply make violence easier. 

A.M.
11/21/93