Thoughts on US Gun Law.

I first wrote a blog on this subject ten years ago here in the wake of the tragedy in Connecticut. Sadly in that time nothing has changed so there is no point repeating what I said in that. This blog is additional to the first one.

In general terms Americans all into three categories;

1. The type who bleat 'You'll have to prise my gun out of my cold dead hands'. It's pointless talking to them because they wilfully will not see sense.

2. Those who have campaigned for stricter gun laws in the US. Talking to them is called 'preaching to the converted' as they already agree with you.

3. The kind who cry and express upset every time there is a tragedy like this but ultimately do nothing to prevent it happening again. The blood of every victim is on their hands. The old truism states 'If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem.'

Be part of the solution.

This blog is aimed at the last group, in the hope enough of them will join the second group to make a difference.

In the first blog I said three areas needed attention, but let’s just look at the first one, the US Constitution. The issue is the Second Amendment [SA]. Now pay attention to the second word. Amendment. That means the US Constitution as originally drawn up wasn't perfect (yeah I know, shock huh?) and it was amended at a later date. According to Wikipedia;

Approximately 11,770 proposals to amend the Constitution have been introduced in Congress since 1789 (as of January 3, 2019). Collectively, members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress.

So when SA adherents claim their right to bear arms is enshrined 'in the Constitution', well no it isn't. It's listed in the SA /to/ the Constitution.

Amendments can be repealed and there is a precedent for it (in 1933 the 18th Amendment was repealed).

Let’s look in detail at the wording of the SA.

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.

First you must belong to a militia. the US legal definition of 'militia' is 'every male over the age of seventeen', so apologies ladies, but as the SA says you have to be in a militia to bear arms technically the SA does not cover ladies who own guns in their own name. Sorry about that. Secondly there is no definition of what constitutes ‘arms’. There is a belief this means a gun but does it not simply refer to any weapon, such as a knife, sword, bow and arrow etc? Where does it say you can carry a gun?

Is ‘the security of a free state’ contingent upon the individual bearing arms? Can an individual stop an insurgency or invasion for example? No.

The SA confers the right to bear arms. Nowhere does it say the bearer has the right to own arms. Thus you could be in a gun club, or in the National Guard etc. They own the weapon and you bear it when hired or removed with the owner’s consent, from their armoury.