Conservative commentator Ed Berliner tore into Second Amendment extremists and parents of mass shooters in a rant posted to Newsmax on Thursday. Berliner went off on the parents of Oregon shooter Chris Harper Mercer, Newtown shooter Adam Lanza and of the 11-year-old boy who killed an 8-year-old girl in Tennessee this week after a dispute over puppies…. “Time also to put to bed this Second Amendment absolute right,” he said. “Make it a privilege, not an absolute right of DNA passage. Force gun owners to undergo intrusive background checks including mental health exams. Take required gun safety courses. Renew them every year.”…. He added that adults should be held criminally responsible for failing to lock up weapons and keep them away from children….”Be responsible, and pay the price when your actions are the reason an 8-year-old kid gets blow[n] away,” he said. “And as a gun owner I tell you what. I’ll volunteer. I’ll be the first in line.”
Under normal circumstances, you can rest assured that if I’m agreeing with Ed Berliner on…well, on ANYTHING, you can rest assured that I’ve probably lost my mind and/or been kidnapped by aliens. I’m fascinated by his perspective on the issue of gun violence, though…because it’s so damned sensible. It’s the sort of thing that Republicans- they of the Party of Personal Responsibility (unless you have a gun)- should be able to wholeheartedly get behind. That Berliner’s astonishingly candid rant was aired on Newsmax, which in ideological terms falls some far to the right of the Marquis de Sade and Torquemada, is even more astonishing. Could it be that there’s a segment (albeit very likely a small one) of the Far Right that actually BELIEVES in and tries to practice a commitment to personal responsibility?
Where I agree with Berliner is the idea that owning a gun should be a privilege, not a right. In order to legally drive a car in this country, you have to pass a test. In order to own a gun, all you have to do is pull out your wallet- no prerequisites, no hassles, no problem. Hey, it’s your God-given right as an American, remember? Except that it’s neither smart nor healthy that this should be the case. Why is it that so many things in life require training and/or testing and licensing…yet virtually any American with enough money in their bank account can buy and use a gun? And how is it that there’s so little accountability for those who injure and/or kill someone through the misuse of a gun? How can a parent fail to adequately secure their weapons and keep them safely out of the reach of children…and not be held accountable when children find their weapons and things turn deadly?
If only that gun hadn’t killed that toddler….
My father is a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). I grew up with an NRA sticker on the front door of our house, and I was taught at an early age to respect firearms. I was taught how to properly load, hold, and fire all manner of pistols and rifles. Handling a gun is serious business, and anyone doing so should never lose sight of the fact that you’re in possession of something that could easily injure or, even worse, kill someone if it’s not handled responsibly. Yet all I hear these days are Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © clamoring about their rights- “The right to bear arms shall not be infringed!!!” Hmm…and which well-regulated militia do they belong to? They ignore the first 13 words of the 2nd Amendment even as they demand the last 14 be adhered to slavishly, without question or hesitation. They demand their rights be respected, even as they refuse to acknowledge, much less fulfill, the corresponding responsibilities. That’s about as arrogant, self-absorbed, and irresponsible as it gets.
It’s time we begin expecting that responsibility become as much a part of the equation as rights; it’s the only way we can hold people accountability for their actions (or lack of same). I applaud Berliner for having the moral courage to swim against the tide on this issue…because you can bet he’s being buried in a furious backlash from Conservatives and Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes ©. It’s long past time Conservatives stood up for the personal responsibility they expect- nay, demand- to be exercised in so many other aspects of life…and now at least one of them is. Well done.
