BBC host Aaron Heslehurst advised Americans this week that they would have to “break” or “dismantle” the National Rifle Association (NRA) if they wanted the mass shootings in the United States to stop. On Wednesday’s Morning Business Report, BBC presenter Adnan Nawaz pointed out that journalists still did not have all of the details about the shooting in San Bernardino…. “There have been more mass shootings in the United States this year than there have been days this year,” Nawaz noted. “We’re at about 330-odd days with 350+ mass shootings. And it’s becoming far too common as far as almost any sensible person including President Obama is concerned.”…. Columnist Maike Currie agreed that the figures were “staggering.”…. “The thing that everyone points to is the Second Amendment,” Currie said. “But the Second Amendment was set up in 1789. That was a different world then and something needs to be done about this.”…. Heslehurst revealed his own “staggering” statistics: “In the last 43 years, more Americans have been shot by another American — shot and killed by another American — than all of America’s soldiers killed in wars in the last 240 years.”
I love it when I run across exactly the sort of thing that’s guaranteed to set the blood of Proudly Closed-Minded Gun Control Foes © to boiling: being schooled by foreigners. Having traveled internationally and discussed America’s gun violence problems with citizens of other countries, I’m here to tell you that people outside the U.S. don’t understand the “Wild West” mindset that seems so pervasive here. More often than not, people who aren’t U.S. citizens looks at our gun violence problem and react with genuine befuddlement- your basic “WTF???” response.
Our collective belief in American Exceptionalism notwithstanding, the fact is that Helehurst and Currie are correct in their assessment. The 2nd Amendment was promulgated in an era when calling 911 wasn’t an option. Threats to personal safety and security were far more prevalent and immediate in the late 18th century than today. The odds of a modern-day American coming under attack from angry Native Americans aren’t great. Today’s law enforcement environment has made protection and security a police function, meaning that the primary reasons for the 2nd Amendment no longer apply.
Not that this truth fazes Proudly Closed-Minded Gun Control Foes in the slightest. They’ll completely ignore the first 13 words of the 2nd Amendment while focusing with laser-like intensity on the last 14.
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.
The truth is that no Proudly Closed-Minded Gun Control Foe © can tell you what “well regulated militia” they belong to…because the days of militias are long gone. That being the case, the final 14 words take on a much different meaning. “[T]he right of the people to keep and bear Arms” is based on the (late 18th century) need for a “well regulated militia.” That need no longer exists, so “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms” no longer has the same meaning. That Proudly Closed-Minded Gun Control Foes © have chosen to ignore this historical truth in order to define the 2nd Amendment in an astonishingly self-serving manner is akin to allowing a schoolyard bully to define taking lunch money as necessary and appropriate.
America is no longer a country in which citizens need to be armed for their own safety. It’s sad that it’s taken someone who’s not an American to point out the blindingly obvious to Americans. We no longer live in the 18th century, nor do we face 18th century threats.
“MOR GUNZ!!!!” don’t mean more safety, nor do they make for a polite society. Until we begin to recognize the truth that Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © don’t give a damn about anything except their “gun rights,” we have no hope of reducing gun violence and the carnage caused by it.
The 2nd Amendment is neither sacrosanct, inviolate, immutable, nor Divinely inspired. Until the vast majority of Americans who favor common sense gun control recognize this reality and demand change, nothing will…and we’ll continue to mourn the senseless loss of yet more innocent lives.
We deserve better. It’s time we demanded it.
