This post originally appeared on QuietMike.org, republished with permission from the author
This article will likely get a lot of conservatives angry and upset and I’m sure some liberals as well. Perhaps that’s my intention, some people are in a dire need of a 21st century reality check. You know how to stop gun violence in America? Repeal the second amendment.
Think of me as Piers Morgan on steroids. You might think I have a pretty extreme position on gun control, but as an outsider looking in just like Morgan, I have a perspective Americans refuse to see because they think their liberty is in jeopardy. Well, it isn’t.
Do you really believe that people in Canada, the UK or anywhere else in the developed world feel less free because they do not have a constitutional right to own a gun? I can’t speak for all of them, but I suspect they’re happy and secure knowing their guns are tightly controlled, so they don’t have to live in fear. The freedom of the mind should never be overlooked.
The second amendment is not being used the way it was intended in the first place. That well-regulated militia was replaced by a free standing army two hundred years ago.
The founding fathers in all their wisdom could not foresee the future. What we have today is the result of a centuries old document and politicians who refuse to revisit it.
More guns means more murder. That fact is now proven (again) thanks to the largest study of its kind by Professor Michael Siegel at Boston University. There are over 10 000 gun murders a year and 20 000 gun related suicides, but for some reason people still refuse to believe that guns are largely responsible.
The number of gun related deaths in the country doesn’t seem to affect people as much as hearing about another mass shooting on television. Mass shootings where at least four people are shot happen on a daily basis.
Often times the perpetrators of the more violent tragedies are said to be mentally ill. Still, Americans reject the more simple solution and refuse to learn a thing from the international community.
What does America have that other developed nations don’t? A constitutional right to bear arms.
Other countries have gun owners too of course, but it isn’t a right, it’s a privilege. Just like driving a car, if you’re deemed unfit to drive, that privilege can be taken away or refused outright.
What do other developed nations have that the US doesn’t? Universal health care. Not only do people in other countries not have to worry about getting shot, they don’t have to worry about a mentally ill gentleman shooting up a shopping center. They can get treatment before the tragedy occurs because they don’t need to afford it first.
Imagine having a healthy country without a fear of guns or being shot by one. I live in a city of close to four million people. The only guns I’ve ever seen are the sidearm of cops. I’ve never seen a gun in the hands of a drug dealer, a shop owner, a pedestrian and especially not a school teacher.
Without the fear of everyone packing, I feel comfortable at home with my door unlocked or out on a terrace drinking a beer. Does that not sound good to everyone?
Every conservative, NRA and gun toting liberal talking point concerning guns has been refuted countless times. Whether its gun free zones being more dangerous, more guns meaning more safety or guns being required to overthrow the government; nothing they say has an increment amount of validity despite how many times they repeat it.
There are a few things that can be done to lower the occurrences of mass shootings and gun crime in general; background checks would be a start. But lawmakers and the public refuse to acknowledge the crux of the problem; when people use their second amendment right to buy a gun, they think they have the right to use them.
I understand the second amendment is sacred to too many Americans to just do away with it entirely, or even touch it for that matter, we’d sooner see universal health care. Well, guess what? Your stuck with it and the violent, fear inducing culture that comes with it.
Until the day comes when the second amendment is repealed, it won’t really matter how many background checks are done, which guns are banned or how many bullets you can fit in a clip. The culture will live on and so will the violence. The only way to kill the culture is to kill the law that feeds it.
Besides, I don’t think the founding fathers would be too proud of a constitutional amendment that costs 30 000 lives every year. Do you?
