We need to reevaluate the political right’s obsession with the so-called “freedom” to bear arms because it is not only “criminals who kill people.”
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“This [passing gun control legislation] is my life’s work….I’ve been robbed of a treasure that I will never see again, so the only thing I can do is make something happen where someone else’s treasure isn’t taken — and I’ll be damned if I’m going to stop.” said Andy Parker, father of television reporter Alison Parker, 24, who, along with her videographer colleague Adam Ward, 27, at WDBJ television in Roanoke, Virginia, died as the result of premeditated gun violence perpetrated by a disgruntled former employee at the television station.
Andy Parker continued: “I’m for the Second Amendment, but there has to be a way to force politicians who are cowards in the pockets of the N.R.A. [National Rifle Association] to make sensible laws to make sure crazy people can’t get guns.”
Three young children, I would guess between the ages of 4-7, sporting day-glow orange baseball caps with “NRA” imprinted atop, and round stickers on their small T-shirts announcing “GUNS SAVE LIVES.”
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Each time I hear of yet another incident of gun violence, I think back to the very first thing that caught my eye as I entered the grounds of the Ames, Iowa Republican Party Presidential Straw Poll in the summer of 2011. Three young children, I would guess between the ages of 4-7, sporting day-glow orange baseball caps with “NRA” imprinted atop, and round stickers on their small T-shirts announcing “GUNS SAVE LIVES.”
But, really, do these “guns save lives”? Do laws expanding gun possession, concealed or not, actually “save lives”? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun-related violence has reached epidemic proportions in our country by snuffing out the lives of upwards of 30,000+ people and wounding many more annually. On average, guns end the lives of more than 80 people in the United States every day. Each year, gun violence affects over 100,000 people in some way. Many of the guns used in these killings reach military- level, weapons power, guns which currently remain legal. Today in the United States, there are 88.8 firearms per 100 people.
Of the estimated 70+ mass murders in the United States since 1982, most of the shooters obtained their weapons legally.
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Of the estimated 70+ mass murders in the United States since 1982, most of the shooters obtained their weapons legally. Demographically, the shooters in all but one case involved males, usually white, with an average age of 35 years.
Should any limits be placed on the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, which 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”? We seem somehow only to spout the second clause in that sentence while forgetting the first, especially the term “well-regulated”!
I propose that we reevaluate the political right’s obsession with the so-called “freedom” to bear arms because it is not only “criminals who kill people” as Second Amendment advocates claim. Therefore,
- We must ban and criminalize the possession of automatic and semi-automatic weapons!
- We must close loopholes such as buying a weapon at a gun show!
- We must increase the waiting period and make background checks more rigorous and effective!
- We must limit the number of guns any individual can own!
- We must limit the number of bullets any gun clip can hold!
- We must ban and criminalize the purchase and possession of hollow-tip armor piercing bullets!
- We must rethink the “logic” of permitting concealed weapons, especially in places like houses of worship, colleges, bars, restaurants and political rallies!
- We must interface all data bases monitoring gun ownership to assess the gun owning population more accurately and effectively!
Even if they did advocate for unrestricted gun ownership, these are the same men who owned slaves, committed genocide against and expelled native peoples…
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I also believe that even our flawed “founding fathers” did not want unlimited and unrestricted rights to bear arms. Even if they did advocate for unrestricted gun ownership, these are the same men who owned slaves, committed genocide against and expelled native peoples, withheld enfranchisement from women, engaged in and killed one another in duels, and so on. Actually, I’m really surprised the NRA hasn’t advocated for the return of lethal dueling matches. Maybe that’s next on their agenda.
To be quite frank, I wish we as a nation would repeal the entire Second Amendment! As we all know, the chances for that as well as for comprehensive common sense gun control in the United States is only a pipe dream as long as the NRA controls Congress and state legislatures, for if they did not, we would have seen effective laws passed years ago resulting in countless lives saved.
Nevertheless, this insanity in our system of gun laws must end. Enough is enough is enough is enough already! Actually, it is far past that time.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Dave B.: While you are correct that hollow-tip bullets do not pierce armor, and I should have simply stated that “armor piercing bullets must be banned,” and that I never claimed to be an “expert” on weapon systems, nonetheless, this does not diminish my argument. As a trained and credentialed sociologist, I fully understand social systems and the culture of guns in the United States, and how this gun culture is literally and figuratively bringing down our country!
What about gun control for police and Federal Agents? Why do they need full-auto military weapons to “serve and protect?” What about the culture of militarizing police bringing down our country? why do they need to wear Nazi helmets and facemasks?
Warren, I’m sure your credentials qualify you to speak with authority on many subjects, but your understanding of “gun culture” is no more robust than my understanding of Greek Tragedies. I would ask you to demonstrate (with logic not emotion) how limiting the number of firearms a law abiding citizen may own, or limiting round capacity of legally owned and responsibly used firearms, or limiting how much ammunition can be owned by a law abiding citizen, will do anything to reduce gun crime. We don’t have a gun problem in the US – we have a crime problem, a mental… Read more »
Wow – Where do I start? If you want to discredit the second amendment because the founders were a bunch of slave owning self serving men, does that logic not then also apply to the rest of our Constitution and especially the rest of the Bill of Rights? Do you know that armor piercing rounds are not hollow points? Do you know that hollow points are actually a safer defensive round because they are less likely to pass through the intended target to harm an innocent bystander? Do you know that the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle is the most popular rifle… Read more »
This author needs help.
agree.I like how he says “most” and doesn’t even cite an actual number.
Be careful how you present your numbers. Mass shooters may have acquired their guns legally, but their victims are a fraction of the overall gun deaths number you cite immediately afterward. Legislation isn’t going to stop deaths from illegally acquired guns. Those in favor of gun control legislation might have a better argument if they talked more about suicides by firearm, which affects a lot more people (particularly men) than the mass shootings in the press, however tragic they may be.
Another part of this are mental health issues not being addressed
Tom,
Decades ago, a member of SDS lamented that the revo wasn’t going to happen because of Remington and Winchester. He was concerned that armed citizens would oppose the revolution he and his buddies planned.
Some things never change.
If Warren had his way, guns would be like drugs. Not available without a doctor’s prescription and efficiently controlled by the government.
R
Several countries have gun control and most of us that live here are in fact quite happy!
I’m sure they’re very happy and I’m glad for them. But what you have to understand is that we can collect ALL the legal guns in the US and there will be plenty of illegal guns that people are using to murder. Through the years, working with adolescent males where many have had criminal charges where guns were involved. One conversation I’ve had is where we discuss robbery or home burglary. Would they rob or burglarize a home where they knew that the person had a gun. Typical answer is no. Another conversation we’d have is about outlawing guns. Many… Read more »
Year to date, city of Chicago 1994 shootings, 298 shooting murders. I guarantee you that the majority were with illegal guns. The problem is not the legal gun ownership.
Gun control is not crime control.
No reduced bail, no plea bargains, no reduced sentances, no early release from prison, and minimum state sentencing laws for crimes commited with a firearm.