As I See It: Weapons and people

If the colonists in North America had not possessed firearms, we would likely be sipping tea as our main beverage, pledging our allegiance to the British king or queen, and following the Church of England as the one and only state-endorsed religion.

There has been - and will be in the future - continuous, and probably never-ending, debate over the content and meaning of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Firearms - mainly rifles at that time - were essential to tame the wilderness as the nation pushed westward. Unfortunately, they were also essential in taming the Native American tribes and slaughtering wildlife - chiefly the innumerable herds of bison that were a staple for the life of the Plains Indian tribes.

The conundrum today is how to effectively address the issue of gun violence within the framework of the Constitution. And before we address weapons, we need to talk honestly about violence.

If we ignore the facts that we have become more and more inured and accepting of violence and cultural division, we will just treat symptoms without addressing the motivation that results in violent, homicidal actions.

We humans are capable of incredible goodness and horrendous evil. The potential for evil actions of some degree is part of our being. Fortunately, the vast majority of us have the self-discipline to not act on the urgings of our dark side.

But there are still too many who harbor the level of discontent, anger, frustration and hate that overrides a sense of right and wrong, who give in and seek to eliminate things or people as a remedy. And that number may or may not include the mentally ill.

Some opine that the founding fathers had no conception of the future. But, they had a great concept of their past. They believed the citizenry should be able to resist the despotism of a too-powerful central government.

For instance, “To disarm the people … (i)s the most effectual way to enslave them.” - George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania Gov. Sir William Keith, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, June 14, 1788.

Or, “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” – William Pitt (the Younger), Speech in the House of Commons, Nov. 18, 1783.

I could offer more similar quotes, but you get the idea. They knew exactly what they were facing.

Most gun owners I know believe that a better system of background checks should be implemented so the mentally ill and those who have proven to be violent cannot legally buy firearms - especially handguns.

But we are still going to run into the fact that without a logical, workable system, background checks won’t be effective.

Secondly, no matter what you come up with, only the law-abiding citizen will follow the rules. Criminals could give a rip. If you want to take the guns out of the hands of criminals, rigidly enforce current laws and/or make the mere possession of a gun by a person who is unauthorized a felony that cannot be reduced to a lesser charge.

But then we are going to re-over-populate our jails and prisons, aren’t we?

The media does not understand that in their frenzy to be the first to breathlessly report on every aspect of one of these shootings, they may well be feeding the ego of the current shooter and others who may decide to get their 15 minutes of fame by imitating another shooter.

Secondly, some of the initial information will prove to be incorrect. The misinformation still ends up on social media in minutes, requiring hours or days to correct.

Gun violence presents a chance for both parties to come together on a workable solution. A solution that respects the rights of millions of legal owners of firearms while preventing others who should not own them is possible.

Rhetoric and emotion will not contribute to a workable solution. Neither will a “my way or the highway” approach.

How does “defund the police” fit into all of this? Who ya’ gonna call? Ghostbusters?

That’s the way I see it.