Gun Debate Op-Ed #2

This is part 2 of more limited series on the op-eds being published about the problems of mass shootings……

This is an FYI exercise to let my readers know the extent of the debate and the positions taken by those writers……

Yes I am a Progressive and yes I also read The American Conservative (go figure)……

Every time there is a mass shooting, the same political scene unfolds. Voices on the left begin calling for “sensible public policy” on firearms. The hosts of The View lose their minds because evil Republicans won’t fix the problem. Democratic politicians haul in money while decrying Republicans’ failure to “prevent gun violence and save lives.” The president makes a speech insisting he respects lawful gun owners, before asking when the carnage will stop and demanding a host of “common sense” gun-control measures. Yes, the left wants background checks, red-flag laws, etc. But the reform they really seem to salivate over is banning supposed “assault weapons,” like the AR-15. The issue inevitably gets debated back and forth in the media. Nothing happens at the federal level. Then, after a few weeks, the issue fades.

Why this action-less cycle? Certain voices on the left claim that America suffers from a “disproportionate influence of small states,” caused by the equal representation in the Senate and the existence of the filibuster. This argument has been used in a variety of political situations over the years when the pesky middle of the country gets in the way of what the Blue Coasts want to impose. When liberals are honest, they know that this nation was never created to be a democracy. This “problem,” then, is not a problem at all; it is an intentional check on the majority’s ability to impose its will on the nation in all matters. Also, perhaps the constant failure to pass these elusive “sensible gun-control measures” is not simply a matter of unsuccessful, stymied legislative efforts. Perhaps the existence of the Second Amendment, and a United States Supreme Court willing to uphold it, are the real issues for the left.

The Left Wants to Repeal the Second Amendment

Please keep in mind that I do NOT necessarily agree with any of the op-eds I re-post…..they are as I have stated FYI……

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Gun Debate Op-Ed #1

We all have our opinions on the necessity for some sort of actual solution to our ever growing gun violence problem.

I have mine of which few will probably agree….but that is your problem….I wanted to help my readers understand what others are saying beyond the chatter from the ‘reliable sources’…..

I will re-post various op-eds from around the country to let my readers know what others are thinking…..

Do you have the right to a gun? Yes. A constitutional right? No.

Fealty to the American myth of unrestricted gun ownership has run its course. Too many children have died. Try a lawyer’s perspective instead. You have the right to own a gun, but it’s not a constitutional right. Politicians beholden to the National Rifle Association bloviating about the liberal elite coming to take our guns in violation of our “Second Amendment constitutional rights” are nauseating. Shut up, Sen. Ted Cruz. No one believes that.

Why not first read the Second Amendment? It says, “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.”

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2022-06-03/second-amendment-gun-rights

Please keep in mind that these are NOT my thoughts….I may or may not agree, this is just an FYI exercise…..hopefully all will see as such and not go off on some rant filled rant that will serve no purpose at all.

Any thoughts?

On a closing note:  Today we celebrate the 78th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Fortress Europe.

Please take a few minutes to thank our Greatest Generation for all their sacrifice.

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Guns, What To Do?

These are the bills that the House will be considering in aftermath of the latest spat of mass shootings……list compiled by Raw Story…….

Bill: H.R.3015: Raise the Age Act

Introduced by Rep. Anthony Brown, Democrat of Maryland.

This bill would prohibit the sale of certain semiautomatic rifles to anyone under 21. Currently, a person needs to be 18 to purchase one.

There are exceptions under the bill. They would include members of the armed forces or a full-time employee of the U.S. government who is authorized to carry a firearm.

This bill had two Republican co-sponsors, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Bill: H.R. 2280: Prevent Gun Trafficking Act

Introduced by Rep. Robin Kelly, Democrat of Illinois.

This bill would establish a new federal penalty for gun trafficking, which could range from a fine to up to 10 years in prison. The bill also allows for the seizure of firearms and ammunition involved in the offense.

It would also be “unlawful to sell or dispose of a firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reason to believe that the person intends to sell or dispose of the firearm in violation of a federal law, or to sell or dispose of the firearm to a person in another state in violation of that state’s law.”

This measure had no Republican co-sponsors.

Bill: H.R. 3088: The Untraceable Firearms Act

Introduced by Rep. David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island.

This bill aims to curb ghost guns, which are homemade guns that lack a serial number, making it difficult for law enforcement to trace the owner of the weapon if it’s found at a crime scene. The Biden administration directed the Justice Department to issue a final rule to ban manufacturers from making ghost gun kits.

The measure would require that all firearms need to be traceable, including guns that are made with a 3D printer. Only gun manufacturers are allowed to issue a serial number for a firearm, according to the bill.

In terms of penalties, a first violation of this law would result in a fine, no more than a year in prison, or both. If there is a repeat offense, a person would be fined, serve up to five years in prison, or both.

This bill had no Republican co-sponsors.

Bill: H.R. 748: Ethan’s Law

Introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut.

This bill aims to regulate the storage of firearms, particularly in homes with children, by setting federal, state and tribal requirements. The bill establishes “requirements for firearms on residential premises to be safely stored if a minor is likely to gain access without permission or if a resident is ineligible to possess a firearm.”

A person could be fined up to $500, per violation, and if a minor or someone who does not possess a firearm obtains a firearm in the home and is injured or causes injury, the person to whom the firearm belongs can be fined, imprisoned for up to five years, or both.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Bill: H.R. 6370: The Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act

Introduced by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan.

This bill would establish federal requirements for the storage of firearms on residential properties. The bill would make it unlawful if a person who has a firearm “knows, or reasonably should know, that a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the parent or guardian,” and if “a minor obtains the firearm and uses the firearm in the commission of a crime or causes injury or death to such minor, or any other individual.”

There were no Democratic or Republican co-sponsors for this bill.

Bill: H.R. 130: The Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act

Introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas.

This bill would establish federal requirements for firearms and ammunition on residential properties by requiring firearms and ammunition to be safely stored if a minor is likely to gain access without permission to the firearm.

The firearms would need to be secured, unloaded and separated in a safe and locked, or the firearms would need to be off the residential property and stored at a storage facility or gun range. The bill would also require those safes and storage facilities to be certified by the Department of Justice.

If someone violates this law in connection with a civil charge, and there is no discharge of the firearm, they can be fined up to $5,000.

If someone violates this law in a criminal action, and there is a discharge of the firearm, they would be fined a minimum of $50,000 and no more than $100,000, imprisoned for no more than 20 years, or both.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Bill: H.R. 5427: Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act

Introduced by Rep. Dina Titus, Democrat of Nevada.

This bill would classify bump stocks as machine guns and require them to be registered under the National Firearms Act and prevents the manufacture, sale, or possession of new bump stocks for civilian use.

A bump stock allows “a semiautomatic firearm to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the recoil energy of the semiautomatic firearm to which it is affixed so that the trigger resets and continues firing without additional physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter,” according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Bill: H.R. 2510: The Keep Americans Safe Act

Introduced by Rep. Ted Deutch, Democrat of Florida.

This bill would make it unlawful for the import, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, which can be a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of more than 10 rounds of ammunition. However, the bill allows existing magazines to be “grandfathered” in, so they can still be held in possession, but prohibits the sale or transfer of “grandfathered” large capacity ammunition feeding devices.

This bill also allows for the use of funds from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program for buy-back programs for such devices. Individuals who surrender a LCAFD under a buy-back program receive compensation.

There were no Republican co-sponsors to this bill.

Now you have the attempts to control/lessen the mass shootings…

Personal opinion here….,these are lame ass attempts that will go nowhere in preventing more mass shootings and more innocent deaths……

Basically band-aids for a gun shot wound (no pun intended).

Please read the bills and then tell me where the good will be.

Another fart in the wind from the US House of Representatives.

So much more to be said!

As the Senate tries to find a compromise on gun control legislation, the House is moving ahead with its own package on the issue, starting with an emergency markup this week.

Although lawmakers are currently on recess, the House Judiciary Committee returned Thursday for an urgent session focused on multiple bills intended to address the age limit for purchasing guns, the sale of large-capacity magazines, and firearm storage. During the markup, committee members approved the package, setting it up for a floor vote as soon as next week.

https://www.vox.com/2022/6/2/23151914/house-democrats-gun-control-package

All in all a waste of time….only purpose this will offer is some fodder for campaign ads.

And the deaths go on….

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Last Thoughts On Guns

This is a wasted attempt on my part because most people have made up their closed minds on the gun issue.

Most of us do not give a sh*t one way or the other……beyond ‘thoughts and prayers’ and we move on to the next “jackass Movie……

A few useless charts for your consumption…..

Americans have blamed many culprits, from mental illness to inadequate security, for the tragic mass shootings that are occurring with increasing frequency in schools, offices and theaters across the U.S.

The latest, which occurred on May 24, 2022, at a Texas elementary school and left at least 19 children and two teachers dead, was the 213th mass shooting this year – and the 27th that took place in a school.

Yet during much of America’s ongoing conversation about the root causes of gun violence, the makers of guns have typically escaped scrutiny. As a public health researcher, I find this odd, because evidence shows that the culture around guns contributes significantly to gun violence. And firearm manufacturers have played a major role in influencing American gun culture.

That’s beginning to change, particularly since the US$73 million settlement between the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the maker of the rifle used in the massacre. This may open the door for more lawsuits against firearm manufacturers.

https://theconversation.com/6-charts-show-key-role-firearms-makers-play-in-americas-gun-culture-183900

Now my last thought…..

***Please this is someone’s opinion…..I offer it as a closing thought not an endorsement***

It’s obviously a damning statement that killing children in their schoolhouses, churchgoers in their churches and Black and Latino people in the places where they shop is something that happens with relative frequency in the United States. What’s even more damning, however, is that so many politicians essentially support this sociopathic behavior. Sure, they may make statements deploring the bloodshed and tragedy, but they sure as hell don’t do a damn thing about ending it. In their minds, there is nothing to be done about men (yes, it’s usually men) walking into a school wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an arsenal more suitable to an invading soldier and murdering a couple dozen people. Then again, politicians claim there is also nothing to be done about hiring young men, arming them to the teeth and sending them off to kick in the doors of innocent families and killing everyone inside. It’s American democracy, goddammit. Take it in the face or we’ll kill you.

This is a country built on violence and determined to survive by violence or take the world down with it. It consistently rejects peace talks in favor of war, nonviolent approaches to crime in favor of killer cops, and open borders in favor of heavily militarized border enforcement. Then it cries when its children are killed. Then it sells more guns. It’s a twisted place to live and most of its residents have no clue how twisted.

Ban the Damn Guns

No more needs saying…..that is until the next time of a mass shooting….and the manure begins all over again.

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Those Damn Guns!

But first a factoid….the year is not quite 180 days old and we have had 200+ mass shootings….now there is a stat to be proud of (sarcasm)……

The mass shooting in Texas that has left 21 people dead, mostly children, has ignited the debate on guns and what to do……and of course those idiots that say ‘thoughts and prayer’ are doing nothing to help only patronizing the people involved.

As usual after the fact the Congress has taken up the problem of guns and associated deaths…..The House tries to pass some form of solution and the senate as usual will do NOTHING!

At least 10 GOP senators would have to support gun control legislation for it to pass. The New York Times contacted all 50 Republicans to see whether they’ll back two measures that the House has approved to toughen background checks for people who want to buy guns. Most of them either wouldn’t say how they’d vote or said they’d oppose the House bills. Here are a sampling of their responses, which the Times ran along with their grades from the National Rifle Association and the amount of money the organization has contributed to the senators over their careers.

  • Maine Sen. Susan Collins: A spokeswoman said “Senator Collins is one of two Republican senators currently serving who voted for Manchin-Toomey, which included background checks for all commercial transactions.” NRA rating: A. Funding: $18,000.
  • Texas Sen. Ted Cruz: The senator blamed Democrats “and a whole lot of folks in the media” for rushing to “try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.” NRA rating: A+. Funding: $176,000.
  • South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham: “None of these things we’re talking about seems to change the outcome, before these most recent cases. I doubt if any Republicans vote for that.” NRA rating: A. Funding: $433,000.
  • Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey: “My interest in doing something to improve and expand our background check system remains.” NRA rating: C. Funding: $1.5 million.
  • Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell: No answer. NRA rating: A+. Funding: $1.3 million.
  • Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville: “I’m willing to say that I’m very sorry it happened. But guns are not the problem, OK? People are the problem.” NRA rating: A. Funding: $10,000.
  • Utah Sen. Mitt Romney: “I do believe that we will be looking at ways to improve our background checks. … And I do believe that red flag laws … are helpful.” NRA rating: A. Funding: $13.6 million.
  • Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: No answer. NRA rating: A+. Funding: $3.3 million.
  • Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe: “I hadn’t thought about it. You’re the first one to bring that to my attention.” NRA rating: A+. Funding: $82,000.

The usual track of this debate on guns will proceed at a usual tempo….blah, blah, blah and then it will fade for something else that will become more important….

After a racist shooting earlier this month at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and Tuesday’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, guns have — yet again — emerged as a political issue that has dominated headlines. Democrats have issued impassioned pleas for the government to more tightly regulate the sale of firearms, and if past shootings are any indication, we will soon get a fresh batch of polling data showing that solid majorities of Americans agree with them. But again, if past shootings are any indication, Congress will not pass any reforms, in large part because many Republicans oppose gun control reform. And as happened so many times before, the strong public support for gun control will fade away with our memories of the shootings.

FiveThirtyEight took a look at polling and media data to show how support for gun laws has increased amid intense media coverage of past school shootings, but then reverted back toward the previous mean as the media spotlight moved on to other issues. We examined the period around two school shootings in 2018 to see how coverage of those events corresponded with changes in support for increased gun control. Specifically, we examined data around the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the May 18, 2018, shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas.1 And as you can see in the chart below, there was an abrupt increase in the share of Americans who favored stricter gun laws right after each shooting, most especially Parkland, followed by a decline in support.

Support For Gun Control Will Likely Rise After Uvalde. But History Suggests It Will Fade.

I am a gun owner and I believe it is time, actually beyond the time, to have a real and honest debate without all the BS that some want to spread to deflect the attention from the fact that these killings were done with a gun….

Let’s take a look at the most manure that is spread….

If nothing else, mass shootings and school shootings always bring out the creative side of America’s worst human beings. Whether they’re desperate for the shooter to not be a white supremacist (for fear it would make other white supremacists look bad, because they look so good and normal otherwise) or for the usual reason that they just really, really don’t want gun control. They want it to be about literally anything else. Ideally, they’d especially like it to be about a thing they are mad about so that they can blame it on the Left. Because for them, it’s not about actually preventing these massacres or making people safer, it’s about who gets the political points.

To be fair, they also claim to believe that this is what we are doing. They believe the reason we look at mass shootings and say, “Wow, seems like we should perhaps be more careful about who gets guns and perhaps not sell guns that make it super easy to kill a whole bunch of people within a very short span of time” is not because this is the most obvious and logical conclusion to reach, but because it is part of our long game to take their guns and do tyranny to them. Granted, these are people who also really love Augusto Pinochet, Vladimir Putin, and Viktor Orbán so it’s not totally clear what they imagine “tyranny” is. It’s certainly not forcing everyone to adhere to one’s own religion or forcing them to give birth against their will or forcing them to conform to what you believe their gender identity or sexual orientation should be, because those are things they would enjoy. I’d say it’s “everyone having health care” but Russia and Hungary both, technically, have universal, publicly funded health care and even Pinochet couldn’t totally get rid of FONASA (Chile’s public healthcare program). It’s honestly hard to tell!

So in order to keep people from turning to that very logical conclusion, they have come up with umpteen entirely unreasonable conclusions in hopes of distracting us. Let’s take a look at some of the gems we’ve seen this go-round.

https://www.wonkette.com/mass-shootings-really-bring-out-the-creativity-in-america-s-worst-gun-creeps

This issue is an excellent example of just what money can buy from the Senate…..

Sadly the debate will soon die off and NOTHING will be done to try and prevent this from happening.

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Guns….Guns….Guns

The title ought to get the thoughts flowing.

Just a short note–Let me say there…..I own guns I have no problem with others doing the same….my problem is assault weapons for the unwashed masses…..it is a lie that these are for ‘protection’….these weapons have one purpose.

These two articles are written by others and I just want to share…..

This is a thought on the gun control debate……

Expect the gun control debate in America to really get hot over the next 12 months as Beto O’Rourke runs for governor of Texas. O’Rourke said, when running for president in 2019, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47!”

And it’s entirely time for this debate. America has just a bit more than 4 percent of the world’s population, but, with more guns than people in our country, we have more than 40 percent of all the guns in civilian hands in the world.

Specifically, as a Swiss-based research group found, there are “approximately 857 million civilian-held firearms in the world’s 230 countries and territories” and, as ABC News points out, in America there are “over 393 million firearms in civilian possession” as of 2017. About ten million more have been sold in the US since then: we are the only nation in the world with more guns than people.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/11/23/go-ahead-take-their-guns-us-would-be-less-dangerous-place

Of course the 2nd will be the first thing the debate will bring forward…..

I have made my thoughts known on this amendment to the Constitution…..https://lobotero.com/2013/02/20/a-well-regulated-militia/

I read this piece on the 2nd……

As America grapples with a relentless tide of gun violence, pro-gun activists have come to rely on the Second Amendment as their trusty shield when faced with mass-shooting-induced criticism. In their interpretation, the amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms—a reading that was upheld by the Supreme Court in its 2008 ruling in District of Columbia. v. Heller. Yet most judges and scholars who debated the clause’s awkwardly worded and oddly punctuated 27 words in the decades before Heller almost always arrived at the opposite conclusion, finding that the amendment protects gun ownership for purposes of military duty and collective security. It was drafted, after all, in the first years of post-colonial America, an era of scrappy citizen militias where the idea of a standing army—like that of the just-expelled British—evoked deep mistrust.

The Second Amendment Doesn’t Say What You Think It Does

I also visit a couple of debate sites…this is one of the debates on one of the sites….

https://gun-control.procon.org/

Please do not shoot the messenger….I just want help the debate, real debate, move forward….

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Closing Thought–15Jun21

Over this past weekend there were shooting in 6 states…..when will enough be enough?

I recently read an article recently that explains the recent increase in murder and gun violence….it seems it is because there is more guns!

That got the immediate response from me…..

The year 2020 saw the largest recorded increase in homicides in United States history — an increase likely propelled by a complex mix of factors, from more guns to stresses of the pandemic to fewer police officers on the streets to a crisis in relations between police and citizens.

But one persistent theory is that a change in policing last summer primarily drove increased gun violence. This is an especially popular explanation among law enforcement figures. Former Baltimore Police Department Deputy Commissioner Jason Johnson recently argued that the real driver of last year’s murder rise was a severe decline in police activity, especially after protests erupted last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

St. Louis Police Commissioner John Hayden suggested that the police resources devoted to protests prevented officers from engaging in neighborhood policing. Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said police were “stretched to the limit” by the protests and coronavirus restrictions. Summarizing widespread reductions in stops and arrests, Johnson wrote that “when the Thin Blue Line retreats, violence charges in.”

https://www.vox.com/22529989/2020-murders-guns

This is a growing problem in search of solution….the problem is there are none that want that solution….they prefer to keep uttering the mindless sympathy message of “thoughts and prayer”….and the killing goes on…..and on….

Turn The Page!

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“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–16Nov20

Do you have a right to own a gun?

*****Before the insults and bullshit starts…..this short video is provided as an educational opinion on the debate that has been raging for decades…..I am not advocating one way of the other……so please keep the lameass insults to yourself*****

I have written about this subject several times from social perspective to my theory of why historically…..

I offer this video as a way for a conversation to begin…a real conversation…..not some slug-fest of insults and lies….

 
I also include a few other videos as to keep the interest alive…..
 
One more and after that you may go back to sleep….
 
 
But in case you are interested in my historic perspective…..https://lobotero.com/2013/01/30/why-the-2nd/
 
 
Be Smart!
 
Learn Stuff!
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–28Oct19

Guns!

I thought that would get some attention!

Before I go any further let me state beyond any confusion…I am NOT an advocate of super restrictive gun laws. Got That?

We know by watching our favorite news station that gun violence seems to be on the rise….and of course when that happens the conversation turns to some sort of gun control…..and then the debate starts and the insults and the lies and then total break down of any constructive dialog is gone.

Does that sort of sum up the never ending gun conversation?

Did you know that gun deaths are rising across the the US except in the two states with restrictive gun laws……

U.S. gun deaths have have surged over the last several years, according to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs.

Since 1999, researchers from the University of Michigan found that the annual rate of people killed by firearms had remained relatively stable, hovering around 10.4 deaths per 100,000. But from 2015 to 2017, a new pattern emerged, and the rate began to skyrocket, ultimately increasing by around 14 percent over the previous 15 years.

Nearly one-fifth of all people living in the United States who died at the hands of a firearm since 1999 were killed over a three-year period.

The study reported that only two states, California and New York, and the District of Columbia saw firearm mortality rates decline across most demographic groups (such as race, sex and age) in recent years. This is notable considering these jurisdictions’ relatively strict gun laws.

https://www.newsweek.com/gun-deaths-united-states-firearms-1463911

If you actually read the article then you probably have an opinion….right or wrong…..

How about a history of gun rights in this country…..

To say the history of gun rights is contentious would be an understatement. It is a history that has become guided by political ideology and cultural attitudes more than by facts.

For more than a decade, I have researched, written, debated, and discussed the history of gun rights, and its legal ramifications. I am not anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment, associated with communism, or some other negative stereotype used by gun-rights advocates to “pigeon hole” anyone who does not wholly subscribe to the tenets of gun-rights theology.

https://www.americanheritage.com/history-gun-rights-america

There’s a lot going around about the Second Amendment.  Some on the left have been spreading a little rumor that it isn’t necessarily about protecting any right of the individual.  Some say it doesn’t hold water compared to the government’s ideas on ensuring public safety.

Let’s not forget that the Amendment, “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,” isn’t our only clue to determine what the founders thought of the right to bear arms. They’ve left behind plenty of writings which outline the purpose of the 2nd Amendment.

The Founding Fathers Explain The Second Amendment — This Says it ALL

One last thought…..

Many people find this obvious. It’s hard to imagine what else the Second Amendment could possibly be intended to do. James Madison wrote the Second Amendment in the aftermath of a bloody war for independence from a tyrannical empire. The first shots of that war were fired to resist disarmament. Can anyone truly believe that Madison wrote the Second Amendment with, say, hunting or target shooting in mind? It’s a preposterous notion.

But, let’s suppose that we’re not sure what “arms” the Second Amendment refers to. How might we figure out what the authors of our Constitution and Bill of Rights were thinking when they used the term “arms?” Were they thinking about “weapons of war,” or something else?

The Right to Bear Which Arms? – 2A Interpretation and the Federalist Papers

Thoughts?

You have mine…now what about yours?

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–20Sep19

The big news of the day is that of Colt and the AR-15.

In a huge announcement the firearms manufacturer has stated that they will cease making the AR-15 for civilian markets…..

Gun-maker Colt is suspending its production of rifles for the civilian market including the popular AR-15, the company said Thursday in a shift it attributed to changes in consumer demand and a market already saturated with similar weapons. The company said it will focus instead on fulfilling contracts with military and police customers for rifles, the AP reports. “The fact of the matter is that over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity,” Colt’s chief executive officer, Dennis Veilleux, said in a statement. “Given this level of manufacturing capacity, we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future.”

Veilleux said the company, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2016, remains committed to the Second Amendment. He said the company is expanding its lines of pistols and revolvers. Despite a national debate on gun control, Colt’s decision seems driven by business considerations rather than politics, said Adam Winkler, a gun policy expert at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. Given “the history of Colt being a completely disorganized, dysfunctional company that goes into bankruptcy and can’t keep anything going properly, my assumption is that this is a business decision that is being driven by their own business problems,” he said. Still, Winkler said the company’s decision risks alienating and angering its remaining customer base.

A bit of good news for those people that want the weapon taken from the consumer marker (I am one of those)……

Will this cease the deaths?

Not at all.

It will just limit the amount of weapons available.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”