Let’s Talk About Guns for a Moment

I’ve read our Bill of Rights and I know what it says. There’s this line that’s causing a whole lot of hullaballoo for a mere 27 words. Supposedly, it says that American citizens have the right to own and use guns. The exact wording is “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed” but hey, I’m told ‘arms’ means guns, and not my biceps.

What baffles me is that our highly educated democratically elected officials, who are supposed to be pretty darn bright, are having trouble contextualizing those 27 words in today’s reality.

Back in 1791 when the second amendment was ratified the behemoth of a military that we have know was unimaginable. There was no effective justice system in much of the United States, and very little way for a person to protect herself without taking it into her own hands. So having a gun was pretty normal. You could shoot dinner and defend your home. Makes sense.

Problem is, it’s no longer 1791. We are lucky enough to have a pretty good military and justice system. The police and fire department response time to my apartment is less than a minute. That’s pretty awesome. So why are we still acting as if the reasons for us to have guns in the 18th century still hold true?

Hunting? I get it. Go shoot a deer. Target practice? Ok, but there’s no need for semi-automatics on the range. Self-defense? I really don’t see the purpose.

The most obvious reason to need a gun for self-defense would be to defend you from another person with a gun. Without guns you might still get in a fight, get a little bit bloody, and end up in the hospital. But guess what wouldn’t happen?

And yet, the USA has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world with 88 of every 100 people owning a firearm. Gun violence is an epidemic. There have been 62 mass shootings in the USA from 1982 to 2012. As Obama has said, the USA does not have a monopoly on crazy; we do not have a monopoly on stupid either. So other than the presence of guns, there doesn’t seem to be any reason for these events to be so common in the USA.

After each shooting there comes an outcry. It’s a pattern: shooting, press field day focused almost solely on the shooter, public outrage, politicians make promises, nothing happens. This repeats, over and over, month after month. School shootings have become so common that a company has released a bullet-proof naptime ‘blanket’ kids can use to cover themselves.   

At this pace, it’s only a matter of time until the most gun-friendly NRA members and hardcore conservative politicians are affected by the shooting epidemic. I hate to think that it might take them losing a relative, friend, or neighbor to step-up and realize that our archaic laws need to be overhauled.