What Next?

Second Amendment.

The 2nd Amendment of the Constitution reads “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.” Reading this would indicate that people should have complete unfiltered access to a gun. I think the key here though is “well regulated Militia.”

It means that for a person to carry a gun said person must be part of a regulated Militia.

As I’ve said in the past, we must also place context of the times. When the 2nd amendment was written the technology was a single shot pistol or rifle requiring close to a minute to reload. The time between shots would make subduing the shooter likely.

We must recognize the technology has changed.

Today’s automatic weapons fire multiple shots in a matter of seconds. The writers of the constitution could not be expected to imagine this difference. They provided an amendment process in order to correct the constitution based on changes over time.

To think our founding fathers felt that everyone had a right to an automatic weapon which can fire 20+ rounds in less than a minute is just plan wrong. They could not have imagined the existence of such a weapon.

We must recognize the 2nd Amendment is dated and needs to be changed.

Current Philosophies.

Republicans are tied to the gun lobbies who believe that the right to bear arms means total access. Democrats wish to regulate access. The 2nd Amendment supports regulation to within a “regulated Militia”

I don’t believe that is possible. Most people should be able to buy a gun for personal protection and sporting use. I don’t believe that should extend to carrying a gun in every situation.

Part of the solution is to regulate guns.

Republicans wish to control the school space so that only known people have guns. They acknowledge that this is difficult, but wish to improve public spaces so that guns are only available to those who are a danger.

Their thinking is flawed.

Give everyone a gun and the problem will go away. Let’s see now and follow this thinking to the obvious conclusion. Two people have guns, they argue it escalates to a point one feels threatened. They pull a gun and start shooting. The second person pulls his gun and returns fire. Now anyone in the area is in a life threatening situation where a stray bullet could hit them.

Change the situation from two people to two groups of people and now the situation develops into a mini war.

Providing everyone a gun is not a solution, but creates a powder keg waiting to explode.

Part of the solution is smarter gun control.

A person should require a permit to own a gun. A background check to insure the individual is not a felony or unstable should be part of obtaining the permit.

Once an individual has the permit, that permit should allow the individual to buy a gun limited as follows.

• Only a single bullet should fire with each pull of the trigger.
• After 6 shots or some similar small number the gun should require a reload process.

Concealed carry permits should be the exception and not the rule.

Will this prevent all shootings? No, but it will limit the number of individuals shot in a single event.

We need to recognize.

In most cities guns don’t make us safer, they make the environment more dangerous. The rules in are urban areas can be different then the rules the rural areas.

According to the movies, many towns required men to check their guns with the sheriff before entering the town. So if we believe the movies, this is not an novel idea.