Skip to main content

 

Another week and another shooting. I know that’s an exaggeration but it does feel like that. It just makes me want to scream. In the span of a couple of weeks we have 16 dead from gun violence. When is it going to stop? Why do we have more problems than other countries? Why do we define being free with having the ability to buy and carry a gun? There are a lot of questions but I am not hearing a lot of answers. There are countries that are a lot freer than we are were the people do not carry gun.   Guns are not what makes us free.

The 2nd amendment reads:  A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to bear Arms shall not be infringed.This one sentence is the root of all our problems. It spells out what they are trying to accomplish with this simple statement. It is allowing the States to have their own militias and you have to bring your own gun. Simple. The question I always ask myself is what if the State doesn’t want a militia? What does that do to your right to own a gun? Since it is a well regulated Militia for the Security of a Free State who does the regulating? I would think it would be the Governor of that Free State. When was the last time a Governor called up a militia? The last time that I can find was during WW II, Oregon and Alaska did call up the unorganized militia. 

Now I am not going to argue about gun ownership because I am a gun owner. In fact I own six guns. I am not going to argue about you having the right to protect your family and home because I believe I have a right to protect my family and home. One thing that I will tell you that I do not feel I have a right to just walk around with a gun. Do I feel safer when I see a man with a gun? NO! I don’t even feel safer with policeman with a gun anymore. Sad, but that is how I feel. People with guns scare me. I really think that people with guns want to scare other people. It is not about safety it is about intimidation. Now I am not a young man. I never saw anyone but the police carrying a gun when I was a boy in the 50s and 60s. The 2nd amendment was written in what 1791 and I was born in 1953. I grew up in the Cold War and the threat of Communism. I was a young man during the Cuban Missile Crisis and never saw a single citizen carry a gun. Why is there a need for a bunch of people running around with an AR15 now? Because of a virus that you can’t shoot at? Because your governor wants you to wear a mask so you keep your neighbor’s safe?

Open carry is not just a form on intimidation it is also a form of racisms.Why do we view a black person as more violent  than a white person. Blacks protests and there is law enforcement presence galore. Blacks marching in Washington DC and we see National Guard armed to the teeth. White congregated to protect a lie that the election was stolen and they can storm the Capital and threaten our democracy because they are not viewed as a threat. Why is that? Too many people in society and our government feel that we need to be protected from the “Black menace” but that white terrorism is a myth.  There are many that believe that the 2nd amendment is rooted in racism. Many have argued that it was out there so States could put down a slave insurrection. That actually make sense to me though, many will argue.  

There are so many guns on the streets how does a policeman know a good guy from a bad guy? Lets say a police officer runs to an active shooter situation and there is a private citizen with his gun drawn. Does the cop shoot? Does the cop not shoot? How does he know? Does the paranoia of not knowing who has a gun and who doesn’t contribute to some of the police shootings? I would believe that it does. How can a country that says if backs the police want to put more guns onto the streets. Wouldn’t that just make it  that much harder to protect our streets.

Now any business has the right to tell you that you cannot enter their store with a gun. It is their right and they are not violating the Constitution for making such a policy. I would not shop in a business where I saw people running around with guns. Open Carry is scary and in my mind has no place in this country or with the 2nd Amendment. How do I know if that person is stable or not?  The first place I would start is not taking away peoples guns. I would take away their right to intimidate someone with that gun.

I own 6 guns and have never carried one around in public. When I feel I have to is when I know our democracy has died.

Comments

  1. ajfMarch 25, 2021 at 4:50 AM

    Hi, I read your blog after finding it from your comment on Heather Cox Richardson's letter of 24 March 2021.
    I'm glad you're writing - keep it up! Post a link to it on all your correspondence, tell your family and friends. I have encouraged all my friends to read Prof. Richardson's daily letters, but also to listen to her videos, especially the series on the history of the Republican party.
    I'm a Canadian but I have loved visiting the US. However, lately I have been concerned about your democracy and the cult of Trump. I lost a FB acquaintance, a Trump supporter, because she was angry that I was invested in her politics and didn't like Trump. I explained to her that Canada is her neighbour and we are not isolated from them, not economically, not socially, not ideologically. During Trump's presidency, authoritarianism worldwide has gained steam, and attitudes in Canada have not been immune - there are Trump supporters here too and it scares me. I would never want to live in a country where I am governed by fear. As a Canadian, I am not afraid to leave my home. I am not afraid to have my front door unlocked, nor am I afraid that an active shooter will kill me in a public place. Our children are not given active shooter drills in schools. Your reality is not anyone else's reality and it doesn't have to be that way. A silver lining that I see south of the border is that ordinary Americans are standing up and taking action - getting involved in politics for the first time, working at polling places, encouraging their friends and neighbours to vote, using their voice - like you are. I have hope but only if citizens like you, who don't consider themselves affiliated with any side or party, stand up and make themselves heard.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  Something I have written many times on social media is that when our Justice Department becomes a tool of the oppressor, we are losing our Democracy. Dictators have always used the Justice Department to oppress the people. Germany had its Gestapo and the SS, which were used to kill millions. Stalin had his NKVD, which would later become the KGB, that he used to kill millions and consolidate his power. China has its Chenguang, which is known for its violent methods. That is how things work in a country that is run by a dictator.   They use their personal Justice Departments to suppress and eliminate threats to their power. Is that now what is happening in this country? I swear, Trump wants to be just like the Communist and Fascist dictators. Trump seems to want to use our Justice Department more as his personal goon squad than a department that serves the people. He is starting with ICE. ICE is an agency that was formed after 9/11 and put under the Department of Homeland Se...
2 comments
Read more
  We are a fascist state when we have ICE agents not in uniforms and hiding their faces behind masks. That is right. We have a law enforcement agency that is running around more like the Gestapo of Nazi Germany than what we are supposed to have and what is valued in America. We are sending not only undocumented immigrants but also asylum seekers and foreigners on student visas to detention camps here and on foreign soil. They are just being snatched off the streets with no due process. This is not the America I grew up in. This is nowhere to be found in the religion I learned and practiced in my youth. This is like fascism. Every day, we seem to hear the term “Extreme Left Judges.” It doesn’t matter whether it is a judge appointed by a Republican president or a Democratic president. If that judge disagrees with any of Trump's executive orders, he or she is being branded as a “Radical Judge”. These so-called “Rogue Judges” are being attacked by much of the Republican Party besides...
3 comments
Read more
  American exceptionalism, we have always heard about American exceptionalism. To be honest with you I never understood what that meant. What are we exceptional at? Sports? Are we exceptional because we produce the greatest athletes? Music? Are we exceptional because we produce the greatest musicians? Because we have the greatest Army in the world? Does that make us exceptional? I was told American exceptionalism is now based on Freedom, not truth and justice. Freedom of speech except for groups we don’t like. Freedom of religion except for those religions we don’t like. Freedom of love except only certain kinds. Is it only what we will accept, that is American exceptionalism now? Time magazine published an article stating the United States has been added to the Global Human Rights Watchlist due to the decline of civil liberties. We are on the same watch list that those third-world countries are on that Trump called shithole countries.   I thought I would never see that in m...
4 comments
Read more