This country of ours has a lot of problems, but I can’t think of another place I’d rather live.
In America, I have the right to think my own thoughts, express myself without fear of retribution, live in any state, travel where I want, pursue an education as far as I wish to go, avail myself of an un-censored Internet, and marry or not marry anyone of my choosing. I can own a gun, worship any God or none at all, and display a bumper sticker that says, “Fuck you, Mr. President”.
There are not many nations in the world where a citizen enjoys such rights.
Of course, with citizenship comes responsibilities, such as observing laws, paying taxes, and voting. Being a productive member of society is important, too. This would include contributing to the economy, innovating, and helping those less fortunate than oneself.
In a democracy, our community, State, and national leaders, are tasked with listening to their constituents about problems they’re facing, identifying possible solutions, and then working with fellow elected officials to devise the ways and means to improve the situation.
Too often, nowadays, our leaders focus on symptoms instead of problems, make excuses instead of embracing responsibility, and cast blame, as if that is problem-solving. “Kicking the can down the road” is often the preferred solution, as it puts the onus on future politicians to solve the problem and frees up the current officeholder to collect a paycheck, get his mug on TV, and fund raise for the next election cycle. Congress should be re-named “The Do Nothings”, because rhetoric has replaced honest work in Washington D.C.
One of the biggest problems that we face in American society is gun violence, and particularly mass shootings of innocents. The frequency of these massacres is a problem that is unique to the United States and the disease is growing more and more severe with each passing year. Nothing is done to address the problem except “thoughts and prayers” offered up by our elected leaders every time some assemblage of people get shot up for no reason.
It is as if our leaders believe that they are powerless to do anything. Or, worse, that they’re not responsible for this behavior.
Back in the 1950’s, as America became a nation of automobile drivers and many of those behind the wheel became reckless, our leaders didn’t use the cop out of “freedom” to avoid addressing the problem. They passed minimum age requirements to obtain a license, speed limits, and seat belt requirements. The road related carnage abated quite a bit, and the American public felt safer climbing into their car. Probably several million lives were saved by these measures.
Mass shooting incidents are a symptom of the problem facing us: mental health and proliferation of military-grade weapons in civilian hands.
Research shows that most of the heinous killing sprees are perpetrated by males in the 18- to 20-age range. These fellows typically have family issues, trouble hooking up with the opposite sex, dissatisfaction with their job, difficulty dealing with authority figures, and an overall feeling of hopelessness. They are walking time bombs and need mental health treatment. Sadly, they often receive none or refuse to cooperate with their doctors. After many of the murderous sprees, parents, siblings, teachers, and online friends say, “Oh, yeah, he talked about killing people. We though he was kidding.”
As the good citizenship saying goes, “If you see something, say something.” Many states have “red flag laws” which identify and track unstable people who are trending toward some sort of meltdown or act of rage. Someone who has been flagged should not be able to buy a firearm, just like society prohibits youngsters from driving cars and young adults from buying alcoholic beverages.
Government needs to increase funding for mental health treatment and work with communities and families to “red flag” these individuals so that they can get the treatment that they desperately need.
At the same time, one of these unhappy and unbalanced individuals should not be given the chance to hurt so many people so fast when they go off the rails.
The Founding Fathers who protected our right to “keep and bear arms” were fresh from a war with England, fought by American militia groups. We had no standing army, so it made sense for the people to remained armed in case another war broke out. That is not the case anymore, as our country’s military is the world’s strongest and our police forces are equipped to deal with local bad guys.
“Yeah, but I need my weapons to hunt!” No offense intended, but if a fellow needs an automatic weapon to hunt game, then he isn’t much of a hunter. “But I need to be armed in case our government gets out of hand!” Sure, civilians with AR-15’s are going to fight off military soldiers using sophisticated weapons, tanks, artillery, aircraft, submarines, nuclear weapons, and killer drones. Let’s face it, the last armed rebellion in this country ended with the rebels taking a fearsome beating. Civilians overthrowing strong nations by force of arms just doesn’t happen except in Hollywood.
We should be able to own a gun for self-protection, no doubt about that. It is our Second Amendment right, just like our freedom of speech. However, none of our rights are absolute. One cannot legally yell, “Fire!” in a crowded theater, just like one cannot legally carry a weapon into a Post Office, a jail, or the U.S. Capitol building. Our rights are, thus, subject to common sense.
We should do the same with military-grade weapons. These implements, designed to quickly kill a lot of people, should not able to be purchased by the average citizen, particularly since we have that cohort of bedeviled 18- to 20-year-old males, juiced with testosterone, in our midst itching to “get even”. There should be no way, legal or illegal, for these individuals to obtain assault weapons, “bump stocks”, ammo, flak jackets, and other SWAT-type gear.
Does our right to bear “arms” include hand grenades, RPG’s, Bouncing Betties, Street Sweepers, and drones equipped with bombs? It does, according to the armament industry (N.R.A.), but it is unlikely that the Founding Fathers had that in mind.
“Guns don’t kill people; people kill people”, goes the excuse by the N.R.A. This is absolutely true, but countries with the most guns available have the highest gun-related deaths. The United States has, by far, the highest gun ownership ratio (guns to population) in the world and, not by chance, the highest gun violence statistics.
One would think that our elected officials, entrusted with the job of protecting their constituents from harm, could find a way to reduce the slaughter that is occurring in our communities. It would be nice to see Republicans, Democrats, and Independents at least TRY to help our innocent kids, teachers, relatives, parents, and spouses.
If those “do-nothings” could actually find the courage to do something constructive on this subject, maybe they could move on to do the other things that they are being paid to do.
Chances of this? Slim to none.