As A Bleeding Heart Liberal, I have often had mixed feelings on the 2nd Amendment. It is what made the American Experiment different from every other political creation before it and since. It along with the 1st established a nation that not only demanded input from its citizens on how they are governed. It gave us the tools to demand accountability and enforce it. In its Original form, it provided for just that.
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.
Supreme courts have decided that this sentence does not mean what it seems to. Taken in their entirety, successive courts have effectively reduced the sentence to….
The right of a person to own a firearm shall not be abridged.
From 27 words to 13. Effectively changing its meaning. one can even say it has been rewritten to mean something different than the people who wrote and ratified it.
On its face, it is a perfectly reasonable and needed right of a people to be able to have effective power over its government. A right with no ability to defend it or enforce it is no right at all. But our courts have decided that “well regulated” militia” has no meaning at all. And “the people” A collective term to denote citizens as a group, really meant any yahoo who wants one.
Since the 1986 “assault weapon ban” I have decried the dishonesty of the pro gun people. It is ingenuine to claim you can defend against a very well regulated militia known as the US Army. I have said often how ridiculous it is to say you and your 9mm clock can defend the constitution of the united states. They traded the right to own weapons that would have a “ chance” of defending citizens from a government gone rogue. for the right to carry penis enlarging handguns that would just make you and those close targets.
I have often said I'm in favour of all handguns banned and freedom for anyone to carry a long gun. If I can see you coming I have the chance to avoid interacting with you. I believe it is our right for any group to organise and submit to sensible regulation to train and prepare to defend our rights from tyranny.
As morbid and self-serving as this reads, I believe that the Las Vegas massacer has cracked a door into returning to the clear and original intent of the founders. NO longer are we forced to defend hypothetical needs for large capacity magazines or weapons that can be modified into killing machines in the hands of civilians. I've noticed the NRA getting on board with banning “Bump Stocks” why is that you ask?
Simple we have just had a public demonstration of how useless these things are for hunting. one burst sent 200 rounds into a hallway and only hit its target once. and a non-lethal wound at that. What hunter would want to scare off all game for miles with such inaccurate shooting? And as we have seen it had zero ability to protect the shooter from a well-trained militia. If he had still been alive when they blew the door he would have been rendered incapacitated by the blast wave long enough to be shot or captured.
Even the pro-gun GOP is getting ahead of the obvious discussion that no longer has the “protect our freedoms” argument to fall back on. This man had all the power in the world to shoot almost 600 defenceless unarmed civilians, yet no way to effectively defend against a trained and equipped police force, let alone an army. Even if there were 19 of shooters in that room, one RPG and they would all have been dead in seconds. They have had their own arguments very publicly demonstrated to be false. I have noticed a lack of discussion on why in an open carry state, with a crowd of undoubted pro 2nd amendment people. not one shot back in the direction of the shooter.. Based on the political makeup of those attending Country music festivals i find it hard to believe there weren't at least a few hundred out of 22 thousand who were armed and will scream how important it is for them to carry a gun.
I don't know how long or far this lesson will go to advance common sense, constitutionally based reforms to our nations gun laws. But this last weekend needs to be discussed its totality. Not the motives or mental state. things we cannot control. But the evidence it provided that there is no valid reason for such weapons to be allowed in the hands of civilians for private use.
So when you have this discussion keep bringing up last weekend. the last weekend for 58 peaceful civilians out for fun. The last weekend we, as a people had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without the fear of being killed by a madman in a highrise. The liberty to enjoy a night out with friends without worrying about a sniper with a machine gun taking out his demons on people he doesn't know.
We need the concept of the second amendment. we need the right to forcibly take control from rogue regimes. And SOME people still need to be able to defend from targeted criminal activity. If we are to preserve those rights we need to return to the clear meaning of the amendment and its reasons for existing. As long as we live with the current irrational reading of it much longer we may lose ity entirely.