Monday, December 17, 2012
Making the Second Amendment Work (just a link)
I'd planned a more seasonal post for my next one, and I'll get back to that, but tonight I just want to share something that a friend from college wrote in response to Friday's awfulness. It makes a lot of sense to me and I've seen a lot of similar responses, too. I'm always at a complete loss for words with things like this - but if one hasn't got words of one's own, maybe the next best thing is to share thoughtful words from a friend. Click here for Tony's article.
May our elected officials finally be driven to taking a serious look at sensible suggestions like these. Although it feels rather crass to say this, I found myself thinking, as I read Tony's article and others like it - gun control shouldn't only be about people not having guns any more than birth control should only be about people not having sex. Oh, sure, there are people in the world who would like things to be that way - but a person can't really expect to get much traction with that argument.
p.s. - yes, I know this was also about the way the mentally ill are cared for, or maybe not cared for - just haven't seen anything on that aspect that struck me quite as much as these rational calls for gun regulation have.
p.p.s. - also saddened tonight by the passing of Senator Daniel Inouye. A true hero, and one of Hawaii's senators since I was a kid growing up in Aiea (and before). Somehow it just seemed like he always would be.
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7 comments:
Thanks - good article.
The gun issue is just appalling. Military style assault weapons readily available is just insane.
Will politicians have the courage to do anything this time? I sure hope so, but I am skeptical.
If the death of little children doesn't change things, I can't imagine what would.
Like you, I hope it does - but my expectations aren't high.
Yes, while I agree that the assault weapons should be made unavailable, as well as any other unreasonably overly harmful devices, we cannot, and should not,tinker with the basic right of the American people to keep and bear arms. Period. Give me liberty or give me death.
I liked the way he laid out the ground rules starting with "The 2nd Amendment isn't going anywhere." It's not, and anybody who can't accept that as one of the basic premises of any discussion just isn't going to get anywhere.
At the same time, though, he points out that there are already arbitrary limits set on what KINDS of arms we can bear - why NOT extend that to weapons that are pretty clearly designed for killing large numbers of large things quickly? What deer hunter wants to drop the whole herd simultaneously?
And a lot of his other suggestions seem pretty commonsensical - keeping guns locked up? I think the hunters I know probably do that as a matter of course. Gun safety education? Probably likewise.
Good article, thank you for posting it.
Good article. There's something very wrong with our laws when it takes years to get through the forms, forms, forms forms, background checks, home inspections, financial and mental evaluations needed to adopt a child, but mere hours to go through the 'red tape' to purchase a weapon suitable to mass murder a classroom.
We really need to evaluate the American psyche. This isn't Somalia - why is there a demand, a domestic market for assault weapons in the first place? If there was no demand for the things, no one would offer them for sale.
Another very similar article appeared on Whiskey and the Morning After. Don't miss the mostly-supportive comments - they're mostly from gun owners who agree that things aren't as they should be.
DaveO from The Lake Is The Boss posted that link on his Facebook page. I paid attention because Dave is one of the people I always think of when I think of responsible gun owners - I have a number of those among my friends and family and I feel like they are qualified to speak to this issue in ways that someone like me (I've only shot a gun a couple of times in my entire life, just shooting at flowerpots on the farm in Michigan) is not.
Dave's current post isn't about the debate, but it does give a nice window into the philosophy of an experienced hunter.
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