"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"
Unfortunately most people, if asked where the above statement is from, what it means and what impact it has on them, would not be able to answer correctly. Most would likely say it sounds old, maybe even outdated. What exactly is a "well regulated militia" and in what way is it necessary to the security of a modern free State, such as the United States? Of course this statement is in fact very old and certainly outdated. States now attempt to possess a monopoly on violence in the military and para-military (police) and any militia would likely be violently suppressed. Yet this statement still has a huge impact on life in America and is fanatically supported. This statement of course is the Second Amendment to the United States Bill of Rights, an article of the US Constitution, and the reason for the current proliferation of guns and their lack of government control.
Today I read about not one, but two terrible attacks on innocents using firearms, resulting in a total of almost 30 people being shot and killed. As a human being I’m appalled at the level of violence. Of course this is not the first, nor the last case of individual psychopaths attacking the innocent population, and I am not proposing anyway to control such psychopaths as it is probably not possible in a free society. What I am rejecting is the defence of the current amount of gun control in America today. The man who went on a shooting spree in Alabama recently had 5 different firearms including 2 assault rifles. Just the fact that a citizen could possess even one assault rifle seems so absurd that I have a difficult time believing it; until of course I read about a man shooting up a neighbourhood with one. Weapons like assault rifles and handguns were designed for the sole purpose of KILLING HUMAN BEINGS. These are not guns used to kill animals - in fact it is illegal in some areas to hunt with assault rifles because it is seen as inhumane. Thank God the deer are protected.
Guns have no place in modern society. States that work best possess a monopoly on violence and do not allow civilians to police themselves in "self defence." Weapons specifically designed to kill human beings should be outlawed and under no circumstances should they be allowed in public. They serve no desirable purpose and only pose a danger to the many good natured citizens who just want to live in peace. The Second Amendment is a 250 year old relict of time when America was a wild frontier, when the founding fathers saw an idea of a free state with little to no government. This was a time before police. Before professional armies. Before high-tech handguns and rifles and a time when you may even have to hunt dinner on a regular basis. Anyone who reads the amendment sees how completely irrelevant it is today. How much more violence can be allowed in sake of tradition, self defence and the general paranoia and culture of violence that unfortunately exists in much the neglected United States?
-DG
I couldn't agree more, you know there's something seriously wrong when you can legally tote around a weapon thats generally illegal for hunting and any other purpose. Although to be fair to the United States, this kind of thing happens all around the world every day, we just don't hear about it because CNN and all of them don't give a damn. I bet you anything that yesterday at least 50 people world wide were killed by guns, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.
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