Sunday, December 16, 2012

Gun Control

How many children have to die before the government acts to limit the right to bear arms in America? Have the citizens who are the pawns of the NRA ever bothered to actually read the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution? Probably not. It was written in the day of no actual army in America…and no actual police force. There were Native Americans hostile to settlers in the west.

As passed by the Congress this is what the amendment actually says. :

"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.

As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:

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."

Please note that the amendment speaks of a “militia”. This was meant as protection against hostilities.

We now have police forces in America. And we also have an army and a National Guard. We do not have or need militias anymore. No one needs an assault weapon in America. Hunters do not use them and they are meant for the military. Again, how many children have to die? Since 1997, there have been 13 mass school shootings. And that is just the school shooting.

Violence is deeply embedded in the american soul. The U.S. has a long history of higher-than-normal violence compared with other developed nations and a thirst for violent entertainment (notice how the premier of the new movie Jack Reacher was postponed ... due to this. It shows that people do lose their interest in that kind of entertainment, at least briefly).

America is also in serious denial about mental health in general. Couple that with the fact that health insurance companies have traditionally done a very poor job of covering mental health ... even for those lucky enough to have health insurance in this country. Also, these 20-year-olds are just starting to develop their symptoms and often not diagnosed yet or even recognized to be sick.

My brother-in-law and I went to see "Lincoln" last night but before the movie even began, we had to sit through thirty minutes of violent previews and commercials for violent TV shows and "games"...if you can call them that. It made me sick to see how video games, TV and movies glorify killing and horror.

I will wait until the next movie I am interested in seeing comes out on DVD. I can fast forward past all that violence.

The NRA has the American people in their thrall. No doubt about it.

4 comments:

Betty said...

Ironically, we do have groups in America who call themselves "Militias." They are usually up to no good.

Margie's Musings said...

That's absolutely correct, Betty. I agree.

clairz said...

Well put, Margie. We have been busy here signing petitions and sending messages to Congress. It's little enough to do in the wake of such a terrible event, but it makes us feel as though we are doing something.

We had a foster child in our house who was a sociopath, I'm sure. We couldn't get help anywhere and were frightened of him and his sister. I begged the police to help us when no one else would. They responded that if I didn't keep the child in my home after a particularly chilling episode that I would be guilty of child abuse.

We have to work on the mental health issues as well as on gun control. I am horrified that we are at a point where children can be so mentally ill, and where so many homes are filled with guns. Just horrified.

Margie's Musings said...

Sometimes folks just don't use any common sense about children. Unfortunately they are not all harmless.

I'm glad you got through the experience unscathed.