February 3, 2013
U.S. Gun Politics & Second Amendment
by Randall F. More, P. Eng.
The discussion regarding gun ownership
has been renewed following recent mass murders in the United States. Apart from the enormous tragedies for the victims, their families, and their communities, the
incidence of gun related deaths in the United States is truly appalling, most especially
when compared to other developed nations.
Americans represent 5% of the world
population and yet they own one-third of all the guns on the planet. There are
40 times more deaths per capita by firearms in the U.S. than in Canada. In 2010
there were more than 30,000 firearm related deaths in the United States and yet
in the same year there were only 155 such deaths in Great Britain. In 2008 in
Japan there were 11 homicides by guns.
It is terribly unfortunate that gun-right
activists in the United States cling to an historical legislated U.S.
Constitution Second Amendment "right" to own guns, particularly in the
face of so many recent and truly horrifying mass murders of the nation's youth.
No legislated right to own a gun should
supersede the moral right that each person has to freely attend a school, theatre, or any public forum and be reasonably sure of his or her safety without being
threatened or requiring protection with a gun. Either scenario should be seen
as the antithesis of genuine freedom for any nation.
It is difficult to understand why law
abiding gun owners would not voluntarily surrender a legislated "right"
in exchange for the health, safety, and lives of fellow citizens and for the
long term well-being of the nation.
The underlying values of a society are
certainly questionable when its citizens feel the need to so vociferously
protect some "right" to own a gun for the purpose of defending
themselves against either a home invader or a tyrannical government, as they
claim. It is an absurdity to believe that increased security and safety would be
attained by combating guns with yet more guns. The notion of defence against
tyranny is also fallacious. U.S. law enforcement and military have 4 million
guns whereas there are 310 million civilian owned guns.
One would be hard pressed to find a
Canadian who feels the need to arm himself in order to defend against either of
these types of perpetrators.
If gun-right activists argue in defence
of the Second Amendment by saying that guns are needed to defend against a
tyrannical government, wouldn't that imply that citizens should also now have
the right to equip themselves with bazookas, hand grenades, and armoured tanks…
which would just mean more craziness?
There are never ending arguments regarding
the relevance of the Second Amendment today but, unfortunately, there is no common
understanding pertaining to the original intent of the Amendment but many view
it as the citizen’s right to bear arms for the purpose of defending oneself and
the state.
The Second Amendment was ratified in December
1791. There is no reasonable basis for believing, however, that this historical
Amendment has any relevance whatsoever with respect to the present day high
powered, rapid fire automatic weapons. Any notion that the ratifiers of the
Amendment more than two hundred years ago could have ever imagined that any right
to bear arms would refer to anything other than pistols or single shot muskets
is ludicrous and disingenuous. The killing carnage that has become commonplace
in the United States is directly related to the prevalence, the obsession, and
the easy access to guns.
Americans will not likely ever admit it but
it is a rather depraved society when fellow human beings feel the need to
protect themselves from each other by using concealed guns. A frequently heard but deceptive
and self-serving gun-rights slogan says, "Guns don't kill; people do." It is quite simple... where there are more guns, there are more dead
people.
It is not likely going to happen due to
the ingrained paranoia of Americans but they would be wise to surrender their
"right" to own high capacity weapons in exchange for the lives and health of
their fellow citizens. One solution would be for the ownership of such weaponry
to be made illegal with significant penalties for violators. A further aspect
would be for the government to pay owners to have such weapons
turned in for disposal. After a mass murder in Australia in 1996, a voluntary
gun buy-back program was successfully implemented. In the U.S. more than 45% of
the adult population own guns; in Australia, less than 6% of the adults own
guns. Apparently, Australians don't live with the same fear of their neighbours
or their government as do Americans.
Unfortunately, Americans don't seem to
have the political or moral will to effect such life-saving and life-honouring
solutions. With such solutions, there would, of course, for a time, still be
assaults by criminals but with sufficiently high penalties and
enforcement, the threats would eventually be significantly reduced over time.
Armed guards at schools and other
places, more stringent mental health regulations, personal background checks,
and stricter gun registration procedures are mostly nonsensical "smoke-screen"
solutions to this very serious national problem.
Any solution, however, should not require
a study by social scientists to realize that video games involving gun violence
are part of the problem, both by virtue of what they incite and also due to the
ensuing problems that occur when one plays such games in continued social isolation.
Unfortunately, easily persuaded
politicians are offered significant financial contributions by gun lobbyists to
"buy" pro-gun voting positions while ignoring the real cost in human
terms of the gun related carnage.
Let us not forget that the
assassinations and attempts on the lives of the nation's leaders including
those of Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, George
Wallace, Ronald Reagan, Gabby Giffords and 34 other murders of U.S. politicians
are senseless acts ultimately rooted in gun ownership "rights." This
history of death is a disgraceful legacy for America and is more akin to a
rogue nation or banana republic.
America would be wise to acknowledge its
many God-given blessings but the "right" to gun ownership is not among
those blessings.
