These guns are weapons of war and mass murder, and, obviously, should not be so easily obtainable. So the question begs, Why are they? The Second Amendment starts with “A well-regulated militia…” In any ingredient list, the item of most quantity, and therefore, most importance, comes first. That’s why ingredient lists are so vital to us in making the right decisions about what we consume. For example, with many yogurts, the top ingredients are sugar-related, and so probably best to avoid and choose a brand with much less. So our Founders apparently wanted us to own guns as long as they were “well-regulated.” Are they well-regulated in this country? No, they are not. For God’s sake they don’t even require safety trigger locks or that they be locked up or that you have a permit in some states or that you have training or pass a licensing test as you do for vehicles. Is not a gun potentially more dangerous and potentially more abused than a car or truck? You don’t have to be a Harvard professor to read the news and see that they are.
So why do people keep voting into office people who continually ignore the beginning instructions–the most important item–of the Second Amendment? Now don’t get me wrong: I am not calling for an outright ban on the sale of the AR-15. I am calling for more regulations around this weapon, and actually a lot more regulations. We’ve seen what they and their high potency clips can do to a child’s body. Recently in Uvalde Texas, murdered children could only be identified by the shoes or the clothes they had been wearing, not by any physical body characteristics. That’s right, even their own parents could not identify their own children after many AR-15 bullets had torn through and ripped apart their little bodies.
You might be surprised to know that I, a liberal Democrat, have considered buying such a weapon. That’s right. Again, I do not advocate banning the sale of these weapons or any guns for that matter. When I was a boy in the 50’s I participated in NRA-sanctioned target shooting with 22 caliber, bolt action rifles at paper targets at safe shooting ranges. I got pretty good at it, a source of pride and satisfaction, as I showed off my bullseyes to my friends. I got used to the feel of a rifle’s kickback and I learned the proper and safe way to hold and aim a gun. My parents were not gun owners, at least not that I know of, but they encouraged my training and practice at the range. That’s what the NRA was all about in the 1950s in America. That, as we all know, has changed with this organization.
Why am I considering the purchase of an AR-15? Because this country has gone psychotic over guns and I am concerned that a full blown violent civil war could erupt within the next few years. As the House Committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 is so graphically demonstrating, the opening salvos in that civil war have already happened with Capitol police officers suffering injury and even death as a result. The chief instigator of that coup, former president Donald Trump, has not even had the decency to call the families of the murdered officers to offer condolences. The enforcer of our Constitution, the Department of Justice, has prosecuted and convicted hundreds of rioters but has done little so far against the major organizers of the coup. And I worry that little will be done against those traitors at the very top of the government at the time–traitors who may still be plotting against our government. So if I and my wife are confronted by automatic weapon-wielding insurrectionist fascist militia Trump/Bannon white supremacist members, I want to take a few of them down with me. I do not want to go down without a fair fight. So, yes, an AR-15 with a 100 bullet clip will even the score some.
But, I want my purchase of that gun, if I do decide to go ahead with a purchase, to be “well-regulated.” Do an extensive background check on me, checking with all relevant law enforcement agencies nationwide. Test my proficiency with the weapon as you have tested my proficiency with an automobile. Make sure I am of an age of reason and maturity. Make sure I do not have or had a severe mental disorder. Make sure there are sufficient safety measures in place such as trigger locks and required lockboxes, by law. Yes, I am a law abiding, mentally stable citizen, but, unfortunately, there are many, many people in our society who are not, who are as unstable as a pressure cooker on a high flame that has run out of water and…and…have an AR-15 with a lot of ammo in their possession.
So when you go to the polls this November, check the candidates’ voting record or positions on gun regulations. Are they in favor of a “well-regulated militia…?”
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