Because People are
competitive; always have been, always will be!
Some people take competition
to extremes; again: always have, always will!
Fighting, from one on one to
military against military, is and always has been a decision maker. Wars between clans, tribes or nations have
determined who will lead. One day,
August 6th 1945, war became harder to justify, because the weapons
became too powerful. World War II ended
abruptly when the world was first exposed to the awesome destructive power of
atomic weapons; unfortunately it took two bombs to convince the receiving side
that that war was done.
World War III was never
fought! It was not because humanity and
their nations had become less competitive.
It was MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) that prevented the Cold War
from becoming open warfare.
Small wars are still fought
between groups of people determined to resist non-violent solutions to
problems, but the threat of nuclear extermination limits the size and scope of
these conflicts.
What has this got to do with
anything?
Personal conflict has also
become capable of extreme violence!
Weapons designed for wars have made it to the consumer market, and given
out bursts of anger, grief, passion, narcissism, megalomania, etc… new power to
destroy and kill. Guns kill over 30,000
people every year (>1,000 accidents, >20,000 suicides, >10,000
murders) in the USA
alone; actually we lead the rest of the countries of the world, not involved in
a declared war, combined!
More than 100,000
people are injured or killed by gun fire each year here in the USA alone.
The first sentence in the
second paragraph of the United
States of America’s Declaration of
Independence:
“We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Citizens of the USA can own
guns because of the concept, “pursuit of Happiness,” but are not allowed to
terminate another person’s right to, “Life.”
Some will say that the
second amendment to the US Constitution (part of the Bill of Rights)
gives a person access to unrestricted ownership and use of guns.
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.
There is no reference to an
individual’s right anywhere in that sentence and that is the entire amendment.
The legal precedent, with
only two very recent exceptions, in the entire history of our country has
supported the definition of militia as part of the nation’s military.
Modern guns and ammunition
have given personal disagreement the power of death and destruction that
civilians were not meant to have, and the military’s use thereof is also
tightly restricted. It is time to take
access to guns and ammo designed for the extreme circumstances of war off the
streets of America!
Some will say, “If guns are
illegal then only criminals will have guns!”
Clean, intentional, miss! All
guns should be regulated because they are tools designed to kill things, but
not all guns and/or ammo will be illegal to own.
Some, often the same folks as
in the previous paragraph, will say,”If regular citizens are allowed to carry
their guns in public that that will control, possibly eliminate, gun
violence.”
Question: How does crossfire
in a fire fight (shoot out) quell gun violence?
Answer: It not only does
nothing to reduce gun violence, it adds to the death and destruction because a
shot can become a gun battle.
It is well past time to
regulate (truly attempt to mitigate) the havoc, injury and death that guns can
wreak.
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