Many, many years ago I had small children in the house. \u00a0(Nowadays, the children are still in the house; they’re just not so small anymore.) \u00a0As most parents of small children are aware, the general rule for child-proofing your house is: \u00a0if you don’t want them to do something, make it so they can’t. \u00a0Toddlers don’t have the capacity for much forethought, and they are naturally inquisitive. \u00a0As children increase in maturity, parents strive to teach them the lessons so that they will simply choose to not get into trouble, because we can’t child-proof everything for them their entire lives.<\/p>\n
This approach of instilling virtues into our children so that they make good choices works well for individual people. \u00a0However, it does not work as an approach to the general public. \u00a0For the general public, you have to revert to child-proofing: \u00a0if you don’t want something to happen, make it so that it is difficult or impossible for someone to do it. \u00a0For example, in computer programming, the developer must assume that if a user\u00a0can<\/em> do something, then some user\u00a0will<\/em> do something. Software must be programmed to handle\u00a0 just about any situation; if the developer did not anticipate an action, it is almost certain that some user somewhere will do that action and report a bug in the software.<\/p>\n In some cases, uncovering bugs\u00a0 like this and fixing them in an iterative approach is acceptable.\u00a0 In other cases, we must be more proactive in fixing bugs in the system.\u00a0 Lives can hang in the balance.<\/p>\n Of course, I am not necessarily talking about computer programming.<\/p>\n I had originally planned to publish this on the 58th day since the shooting in Las Vegas that claimed 58 lives.\u00a0 Immediately after such tragedies we hear talking heads say that “now is not the time,” and “we must give the victim’s families time to grieve,” and sentiments of that ilk.\u00a0 One day per victim struck me as a reasonable amount of time to wait, at least to prove a point.<\/p>\n The point was, we stopped talking about it.\u00a0 Even I, who had mostly written this column and had even set a reminder to publish it, never finished the various points and thus it went unpublished.<\/p>\n Amanda Getchell, someone who was in the crowd at the Las Vegas concert that was targeted by the shooter, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post on 2 November that she is ready to discuss the shooting and talk policy, but the rest of the country seems to have moved on.\u00a0 This is why no change happens; we demand respect for the victims, but then put these events out of our collective memory.\u00a0 They fail to be relevant or to feel urgent.\u00a0 But in those 58 days, there were 2 additional mass shootings that garnered national attention:\u00a0 one in California, where a man killed his wife and then four others.\u00a0 The other, at a church in Southerland Springs, Texas, resulted in the deaths of 26 people.\u00a0 It happened just 3 days after Ms. Getchell’s opinion piece was published.<\/p>\n So now it is time to have a rational, nuanced discussion of gun control in this country.\u00a0 It needs to be an intelligent discussion, one without vicious accusations being thrown about.\u00a0 I don’t know the entire scope of what needs to be discussed, but I know what needs to not happen.\u00a0 There needs to be no wild accusations of “they are coming to take all of our guns.”\u00a0 There needs to be no slippery slope arguments, no strawman arguments, and no whataboutism.\u00a0 There needs to be no uninformed discussion.\u00a0 This is a serious issue, and people need to do appropriate research before wading in to it.<\/p>\n What should the talking points be?\u00a0 It is important to recognize that yes, the United States is the only first-world country where shootings like this happen on a regular basis.\u00a0 But it is also important to recognize that the United States is a large country with vast rural areas.\u00a0 Guns are an important aspect of life in rural America.\u00a0 Hunters provide food for their family.\u00a0 Guns provide security in areas where police response times are twenty minutes or more.\u00a0 Guns provide for self-defense.<\/p>\n Self-defense, however, is a tricky area.\u00a0 Using a gun in self-defense is tantamount to being judge, jury, and executioner.\u00a0 We have the concept of due process in the United States, and a proliferation of guns used in self-defense circumvents that.\u00a0 De-escalation is not on the forefront of many people’s minds when facing such a situation.\u00a0 In 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman in such a situation; in the altercation between the two of them, Mr. Zimmerman exited his vehicle to confront Mr. Martin (despite being told not to do so) and then used his firearm.\u00a0 Indeed, in many high-profile cases, even the police do not put an emphasis on de-escalation.\u00a0 The West Virginia officer who was fired from the police force for\u00a0not<\/em> shooting a man serves as a testament to that.<\/p>\n In rural America, some guns make sense.\u00a0 In urban America, however, the situation changes dramatically.\u00a0 Here, there is much more opportunity for mistakes to be made.\u00a0 A wrongful shooting in self-defense (acting instead of understanding the situation).\u00a0 There is no need – or place – to hunt.\u00a0 Police response times are measured in single-digit minutes.\u00a0 And the majority of American live in cities (approximately 5 in 8, according to statistics I have found).\u00a0 Here, guns have one purpose:\u00a0 to kill people.<\/p>\n Mental health issues are a deflection from the topic.\u00a0 Yes, we need to address mental health issues.\u00a0 It would be nice if, as a society, we valued treating mental health to the point where we adequately funded such programs.\u00a0 We do not, and the same people that want to frame these shootings as a mental health issue are the same people that do not want to fund healthcare.<\/p>\n To say that shootings are a societal problem and not a gun problem is also a deflection.\u00a0 Guns have not changed much in the past twenty years, but the number of mass shootings has increased, so\u00a0– the argument goes – the blame should rest on society.\u00a0 This is true; I do not blame the guns.\u00a0 However, once something has been shown to society to be possible (mass shootings), it is not possible to undo that demonstration.\u00a0 Society is forever altered, and we must adjust to match.\u00a0 If that means better gun control, then that is how we must alter society.\u00a0 Government is\u00a0a key aspect of society, after all.<\/p>\n To say that we cannot enact stricter gun control because of the second amendment is an argument that carries a little more weight.\u00a0 The second amendment is very broadly written and easily open to interpretation. This is why we look to other pieces of evidence as to intent:\u00a0 what did the founding fathers want when they wrote this?\u00a0 It is true that they wanted people to be able to overthrow an oppressive government, and be ensuring people the right to bear arms they thought they would be more secure from tyrants.\u00a0 However, they were also opposed to a standing army.\u00a0 To think that someone with\u00a0 few firearms can effectively stand against our military is misguided; I have the highest respect for our military and their abilities.<\/p>\n What’s more, this is not James Madison’s America anymore.\u00a0 This is\u00a0our<\/em> America, with our own realities.\u00a0 It is a different, more urban, more universal America than anything Thomas Jefferson or John Adams knew.\u00a0 We should not feel constrained by the founding fathers’ intentions; we can use them for guidance, but ultimately the decision must be ours, not theirs.\u00a0 They were not omnipotent deities with such vision for the future that we must adhere to their words as if they were strict Commandments.<\/p>\n By definition, the Second Amendment cannot be unconstitutional.\u00a0 It is part of the Constitution.\u00a0 However, it\u00a0can<\/em> be a part of the Constitution that undermines the very purpose of the Constitution.\u00a0 But how do we know the purpose of the Constitution?\u00a0 Is there\u00a0 a vision or a mission statement that we can refer to that says what the Constitution is about?<\/p>\n We the People<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic\u00a0Tranquility, provide for the common\u00a0defence, promote the general\u00a0Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our\u00a0Posterity, do\u00a0ordain\u00a0and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There ‘s one.<\/p>\n Do our current gun laws meet this vision?\u00a0 Do they establish justice?\u00a0 Shooting someone with a gun is not justice as we have defined it.\u00a0 It\u00a0circumvents due process and lead to vigilantism in cases like Trayvon Martin’s.<\/p>\n Do they ensure domestic tranquility?\u00a0 \u00a0Having to carry a weapon to feel secure is almost the opposite definition of “tranquil.”\u00a0 That is more like walking on eggshells, afraid that the thin veneer of civilization will crack beneath your feet and you will be plunged into a fight every time you walk outdoors.<\/p>\n Do they provide for the common defense?\u00a0 They might provide for self-defense, but our army now plays the role of providing for the common defense.\u00a0 I say, no, they do not.<\/p>\n Do they promote the general welfare?\u00a0 Being a potential target at any time – like at a concert in Las Vegas or at a movie theater in Colorado – is not something that I consider a boon to the general welfare.<\/p>\n Do they secure the blessing of liberty?\u00a0 We might feel that being able to own a gun is a liberty that needs to be secured, but there are other liberties involved in living in America.\u00a0 And the number of\u00a0discharged firearms in and around schools in 2018 – one every other day! – would indicate that we are becoming less able to pass those liberties to our posterity.<\/p>\n If the Second Amendment is standing in the way of sensible gun control, then the Second Amendment must be revised.\u00a0 I am not talking about banning all guns outright; we are too large and too diverse a country for that to be effective, and many people still rely on guns for sustenance and self-defense.\u00a0 But shooting a rapid-fire weapon is not something that you find yourself needing to do at a moment’s notice; that is something that you plan ahead of time.\u00a0 It makes sense to me that those must be strictly controlled and licensed, and we can ensure that those plans do not include murder.<\/p>\n And we should do this sooner rather than later, while we still have posterity to secure the blessings of liberty for.<\/p>\n EDIT:\u00a0 To clarify the statistics on 2018 school shootings.\u00a0 Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit group, tracks this statistic, but counts every incident of a discharged firearm involving a school (even one where no students are present) as a “school shooting,” even is no one was injured.\u00a0 The statistic does, however, still show the danger; an accidentally discharged gun is an uncontrolled gun, and policies should not rely on luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In which the time frame for mourning has expired, and musing that the Second Amendment is only constitutional by definition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":553,"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coolskill.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}