No right is unlimited. We all accept no matter how deeply held religious beliefs might be, it doesn’t justify or allow human sacrifice. Freedom of speech is a cherished right but no one believes it gives people the absolute right to say anything they want, whenever they want, wherever they want, to whomever they want to. Individuals have a right to bail but Americans acknowledge that there are times when it is appropriate to deny a defendant that right despite the fact it is enshrined as a constitutional guarantee. The list goes on and on. So why, when it comes to the Second Amendment, do folks balk at reasonable restrictions on gun purchasing and ownership?
The most common reason for opposing all gun restrictions is because gun ownership is protected by the Constitution. That’s poppycock. The rights I enumerated in the first paragraph – religion, speech, bail as well as others – are also specifically listed in the Constitution but Americans accept common sense restrictions on those rights as a matter of course. No right is an unlimited, unregulated entity in and of itself.
Another popular reason for opposing all restrictions on gun rights is the belief that private citizens need to arm themselves against the day they have to rise up and defend themselves against a tyrannical government. People who believe this are often a danger to the rest of us. We live in the freest society in the world. Gun laws should exist to protect the majority of citizens, especially children, and not the delusional survivalists holed up in a bunker somewhere awaiting the apocalypse.
In 2019 just 33 people died from gun violence that entire year in Great Britain; whereas in the United States in 2019 there were 39,707 gun deaths of which 14,801 were homicides while the rest were suicides and accidental deaths. So far in 2022 there have been 268 mass shootings (mass shootings are defined as 4 or more people shot in the same incident). There were 11 mass shootings in the United States on Memorial Day alone this year. There have been 18,348 people who have lost their lives to gun violence so far this year. What will it take to make our leaders wake up and smell the proverbial coffee?
The Uvalde School shooting in Texas, where 19 elementary students and 2 teachers were gunned down, is the most recent atrocity. Some little ones recounted how they saved their lives by covering themselves in the blood of their friends and classmates and played dead so the shooter would pass them by. Since the first mass school shooting in Columbine, Colorado back in 1999 over 300,000 school children have been in class during a school shooting in this country. Just recently, a mother took to social media to comment on what she thought was a cute picture of her three-year girl old standing on top of the toilet to pee. The mother was horrified to find out the real reason her little darling was going to the bathroom in that way. It turns out the little girl learned to do this at pre-school in order to hide her legs while using the bathroom from a potential school shooter. What is this country coming to?
Several reforms need to be enacted. The first place to start is to raise the age for any gun purchase to 21. That would help prevent disgruntled, bullied or disturbed 18-year-old high school students from legally buying a weapon with which to perpetrate a school-shooting spree. The Uvalde shooter bought his weapons legally once he turned 18.
Another simple reform is to limit magazine capacity. A gunman entered the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California on May 15, 2022 and started shooting, wounding five people and killing one. Parishioners subdued him when he had to reload. If large capacity magazines were outlawed it would at least give those being victimized a fighting chance to save their lives when these domestic terrorists stop to reload.
Military grade weapons like the AR-15 should be outlawed for civilian use. If you are such a poor hunter that you need a 100 round magazine or a military grade weapon to bring down your prey then perhaps you shouldn’t be hunting in the first place.
I’m also coming around to the notion that a mental health examination prior to the purchase of weapons may not be a bad idea either. The NRA and others keep saying don’t outlaw guns over a mental health issue. Perhaps they’ve got the right concept and everyone seeking to own a weapon should have their mental competency checked, confirmed and reaffirmed before being allowed to purchase a firearm.
A Pew Research Center Poll found that the vast majority of Americans support a number of gun reforms and controls; 80% support universal background checks, 85% support measures that would prevent those with outright mental illness or just plain mental issues from possessing firearms while 60% support banning high capacity magazines and assault style weapons. In addition, 71% support “red flag laws”. Red Flag laws allow law enforcement to confiscate weapons (temporarily) upon a complaint of a family member or medical professional so that a disturbed person can have weapons removed from their control in order to prevent a suicide or murder.
The NRA and others argue that arming everyone is the answer. That way, once a shooter opens fire the rest of us can return fire. South Dakota already has the Sentinel Program that allows the arming of teachers in the public schools. South Dakota also has a “constitutional carry” law that allows any citizen to purchase and carry a gun without any restrictions, other than those that exist in federal law. That Pew Research Center poll also found that 81% of Americans oppose concealed carry without a permit (as is the case in South Dakota). I’m not sure I want to go back to the days of the Old West where everyone was packing and life depended on who was the fastest draw or on who was the least easily offended. However, that seems to be the direction we are headed.
Do we want everyone armed and potentially bearing military grade weapons with magazines of maximum capacity? Do we want to weaponize our children’s schools by arming every teacher? Do we want ordinary citizens armed to the teeth ready to draw down OK Corral style at the drop of a hat whenever they feel threatened regardless of what the actual situation might be? Or, do we want to get together as a society and recognize that things have gone too far in one direction and for the good of all some simple, common sense reforms and restrictions should be enacted for our common good? We are a society that treasures individual rights, that’s true, but we also have responsibilities and obligations to each other.