We Have to do Something

Biden on Michigan State shooting : ‘We have to do something to stop gun violence from ripping apart our communities’

Well, OK. “We” can do anything we like; in this instance “President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on lawmakers to take steps to address gun violence”.

Like that’s never been tried before. In all fifty independent states and in the federation of states. Maybe this time it will work. (I’m taking bets as of now)

Pause for a minute and think about what you know or have read about the gun violence in the USA and to a lesser extent in Canada. And Australia. And New Zealand.

Pause for a minute and think.

OK. We’re back.

Now what ought to be foremost in your mind is the fact that no matter what points you raise or what rational arguments you put forward, the general population in the USA falls back on an old chestnut “The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms”.

No matter how or what you debate, always the final brick-wall barrier, is always “The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms”

I studied this amendment ten years ago. Borrowed six thick books from the mammoth Toronto Public Library, four of them on loan from USA libraries. I have a 39-page summary of my findings if you are interested.

Of particular interest is that the second amendment does NOT “give people the right to bear arms”, but that “The Second Amendment is the right of the people of STATES to maintain a well-regulated militia”. Essentially you are allowed to have a gun in your home IF you are a member of a recognised and state-sponsored force. Police, Armed Forces, National Guard or what have you.

Joe Blow, too drunk to find the recruiting centre does NOT have the right to bear arms.

By now you are ready to take up pen and paper and dash off a note to that other Joe, suggesting that the second amendment be repealed, rewritten, and rethought, to use terminology of the 21st century and the fact that those thirteen colonies no longer exist; they have federated, remember?

Remember that the second amendment was a sop to the 13 colonies (all there was back in 1791) to encourage them to federate.

The counter claim will be “But it’s not easy to repeal an amendment”. This is the time to draw out the example of the Eighteenth Amendment. That was an amendment that was found to be at fault. The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed.

Why not the second amendment?

Back in 2005 I wrote a letter “ SouthOfSteeles ” in which I challenged anyone to come up with a logical reason why anyone in Metropolitan Toronto (2.5 Million people) need be in possession of a gun. Except for six strategically-placed SWAT teams.

I even defined possession as “within arm’s reach”, which meant that all four teenagers in the car were legally in possession. “But make the law simple. Dead simple. South Of Steeles plus Firearm equals Jail.” I wrote.

Since the USA’s stumbling block is their beloved Second Amendment, you’d think that someone as smart as Joe Biden would see what could be done.

“ In 2020 , the most recent year for which complete data is available, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC.”

Assuming ten people, family members and co-workers mainly, are affected by each death, Joe could pick up 452,220 extra votes each year!

And isn’t that what politics is all about?

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