We the people...
Those three words were engraved on my heart, long ago. Long before I even considered coming to live in the United States. Long before I met my wife, a full fledged American, from a two generations Navy family in the Heartland. But there was more. In addition to these three words in my heart, most of all were these other words also engraved, not on my heart, but deep in my soul: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. So you could say I carry the Constitution in my heart, and the Declaration of Independence in my soul.
When I was made aware of who the Founding Fathers were, as well as the Declaration of Independence signatories, pretty soon it was apparent to me how flawed they were as humans, how archaic the documents were, in particular the Constitution, and how their true significance rested not on its literal words but in their meaning. And if the Declaration of Independence was a monolith in and of itself, stating a number of self-evident truths that today assume contemporary significance without question, the Constitution appeared to me as a living, breathing heirloom, to be transmitted from generation to generation with the expectation of improvement being made, a natural evolution, in search of the mythical more perfect Union, and to prove this point, the Amendments were added to the original text, assuming they would improve it, make it evolve through time and circumstances.
I knew all this long before I landed in America to stay, and it was my expectation that, sooner or later, the Constitution would be revisited since it was last amended in 1992. I was also very much aware of the two most controversial Amendments, not surprisingly the first and the second.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Right to bear arms.
"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."
Judging by the title of this piece, you already know where we are going. The reason I mention the First Amendment is to contrast the extreme character of the two amendments. One a radical concept, the other a reasonable assumption, for the XVIII century, both passed by Congress on September 25, 1789, and yet so differently approached. While the authors realized how important it was to try and stipulate the freedoms in ways that would resonate through the ages, they looked at the guns like... Well, just guns. They did imagine the evolution of the rights freedom requires would change, and made sure the words were a reflection of all that King George had denied the colonists, as they believed these freedoms should always be pertinent in ways similar to those felt by themselves.
Judging by the title of this piece, you already know where we are going. The reason I mention the First Amendment is to contrast the extreme character of the two amendments. One a radical concept, the other a reasonable assumption, for the XVIII century, both passed by Congress on September 25, 1789, and yet so differently approached. While the authors realized how important it was to try and stipulate the freedoms in ways that would resonate through the ages, they looked at the guns like... Well, just guns. They did imagine the evolution of the rights freedom requires would change, and made sure the words were a reflection of all that King George had denied the colonists, as they believed these freedoms should always be pertinent in ways similar to those felt by themselves.
Now the reason why such freedoms did not, in the eyes of the amendment authors, need to include the right to bear arms, is still a matter of debate, as in "Why the fuck did they not include guns in the first amendment?", but I have an idea, and before everyone goes apeshit, just remember that EVERY ONE of my posts is nothing but MY OWN opinion. So walk with me again.
The reason the amendment authors did not include guns in the First, but rather made them a whole separate Second, was because unlike the rights described in the First Amendment, which in their minds required preservation for all time, the Second Amendment refers to a very time specific right, experienced in their time.
Both reflections expressed in these two amendments, as well as all the others, and the Constitution itself, are a product of the authors' experiences. Regarding the Second Amendment, their recent struggle to reach independence is very much evident. Washington's regular army had nothing on the British, not on land and certainly not in the sea. If it were not for the thousands of militia men who rallied to Washington's side, we'd have had a much different story. Sure the French helped a bit, but let's be real. Without the militias, 1776 would have been just another year in His Majesty's calendar.
The evolution of the Militias from irregular groups to Minutemen and finally to the assimilation in the Continental Army, provided the backbone of the fighting force that eventually became the United States Army. And herein lies the key to the interpretation of the Second Amendment, for in the Founding Fathers' minds that was essential "to the security of a free State", as it had been indeed: "A well regulated Militia", that would evolve, train professionally and become part of a regular army, under the command of the United States government, with the President as Commander-in-Chief. Pretty obvious, no? No. Not at all. The authors completely fucked up this one. They were preoccupied with the recent independence and how best to keep it, and they went almost completely contemporary on the Second Amendment, separating the right to bear arms from the timeless, well constructed, clear rights defined in the First.
And here we are today.
August, 2023. Two hundred and thirty four years after the Second Amendment was adopted. 400 mass shootings this year alone, recorded a month ago. There are more to add to that list today. How many people need to die because of the freaks who believe a semi-automatic rifle like the AR-15 is enshrined in the Constitution through its Second Amendment? How many CHILDREN? Every year, 19,000 children and teens are shot and killed or wounded and approximately 3 million are exposed to gun violence. You read that right, and we are headed for a record year, in 2023. So why is this normal in America? I see you shaking your heads, affirming yet again this is not normal. I am sorry, but it is. It has become normal. And to many, it is the price to pay for their "right to bear arms", and they say it out loud everywhere, from social media to national television.
We are past the "thoughts and prayers" phase, they used to shower us, and the victims' families with. That's gone. As of recent times, they have three words for us: "Suck it up." And really it translates to "We want our guns. Fuck your kids."
It's as simple as that. And they go back to the old common clichés, like video games, pornography, atheism, no family values, and the almighty mental health. We know this. Then, those of us that believe in gun control, counter it with the argument that all democratic countries in the world with similar or equal problems do not have the resulting death toll because America is a gun crazy country, where more people own guns than anywhere else in the world! Well, not true. But let us put aside countries where people are born with a gun slung across the torso, and focus on evolved, allegedly "civilized" countries. Are we right to say that among those, the United States is the country with the most guns available to citizens, especially the most dangerous ones, like the semi-automatic AR-15? No.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Switzerland.
Switzerland is the Western, democratic, civilized country where more people own, not semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15, but fully functional, government issued, fully automatic assault rifles. In fact, according to the last study, 29% of Swiss own an assault weapon. They keep it at home and will do so as long as they are able to use it within the Swiss armed forces parameters. In contrast with this number, only 20% of Americans own the less lethal and more ubiquitous AR-15, compared to the full-sized automatic SIG SG 550 assault rifle the Swiss use (not to mention its variants, some even more effective). Before you start flinging poo at me, read the Washington Post-Ipsos poll, of March of this year. Yeah.
So disabuse yourselves of the notion we are the people with more real dangerous weapons in the Western Hemisphere, available to the general population. We are not. The Swiss are.
"Switzerland hasn't had a mass shooting since 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug, killing 14 people and then himself." (Insider.com)
Now ask yourselves, how many children were killed by assault rifles so readily available in Switzerland in, say, the last year and this year? Or let's make it interesting and say in the last decade? Don't bother to look. The answer is ZERO.
So why? Why do millions of individually home kept ASSAULT RIFLES in Switzerland kill no children (or any remotely comparable number of adults if any), by criminal intent or mere accident? The answers are: education, and social awareness/responsibility. Things we are finally desperate to save and evolve in America, at the same time others seek to pervert and annihilate them.
A well regulated Militia we already have. It is called the National Guard, and they serve alongside the Federal Armed Forces of these United States, including in combat deployments. I bet you diamonds to dollars that 99% of these fuckers who call themselves "militias" would immediately grow bone spurs if they were called to serve overseas in combat. They are stains on our flag, that need removal, and yes, many if not most are Nazis. Not make belief, civil war reenactment nazis, they are REAL Nazis. And we should get rid of them, because they are neither "well regulated" nor "necessary to the security of a free State."
They are just the reason why so many children are slaughtered practically every week in this Land of the Free. Next time you go to a shooting range to responsibly practice the use of your perfectly normal side arm, or single bolt action hunting rifle, if you see someone shooting with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, take a good look. That's what a fucking Nazi looks like.
[finis]
Note:
Comments on this blog are locked. This is but a reading platform linked to Threads.
If
you wish to reply with your thoughts, please do so on the Threads post
that references this opinion piece. Thank you for reading.
