Listening to the World radio today, they were discussing our 2nd Amendment.
Both sides were portrayed, at first, though, concealed weapons were triumphed. The author on hand had studied two counties adjacent to each other. The former loosened concealed/ open carry laws and the latter had left the laws as is. The former had a drop in violent and petty crime and the latter had a rise in crime in the two year period after the laws.
The discussion was brought about by the recent massacre in Cumbria, England. Where on June 2nd, a local taxi driver named Derrick Bird shot and killed 12 people. This crime shocked the British people into some introspective reviewing of their gun licensing laws. (For more info on the Cumbria Shootings, click here)
So despite the fact that by the author's argument, guns make you safer, Britain has far fewer deaths by guns per capita than the U.S.
In my time in Australia, I spoke to many people about politics. The Australians have never lost their Irish habit of being unafraid to bring up the two conversational gaffs in the U.S.: Religion and Politics. They all wanted to know what it meant to live around that many guns. "Had I ever shot a gun?" was a regular question while out drinking. In Australia, much like England, guns (specifically rifles and shotguns) are heavily licensed and controlled. Hand guns are illegal. However, there is still violent crime with hand guns and with other firearms. But far fewer per capita versus the U.S.
Our 2nd Amendment however, should not be done away with or regulated deftly into a moot law. It is an important law but it must be adapted in certain ways to ensure that it is followed correctly. More education when purchasing fire-arms, including mandatory range time, with an instructor present, should be a federal mandate. We require people to take a driving test, have supervised hours for pilot's and captain's licenses, why not a similar safety and shooting skills requirement for guns. After all, it's in the benefit of the gun owner, because if you can't hit anything, you might as well throw the gun instead.
It is clear that some view the 2nd amendment as a hillbilly or antiquated law. It is important to note that it was vital to the founding and pioneering of our country to have guns and be able to use them well. It is a defining trait of our people that we be allowed to own guns and to use them well. This helped make us who we are: a fiercely independent and righteous breed. Does this mean that guns are still necessary or relevant, in a free and peaceful society? No. But the problem remains that we have them.
We can't just take all the guns in the U.S., put them on a container ship and sink it into the oil leak in the Gulf, (although that would be a better solution than what the incompetent engineers at BP are doing).
There are three terrible facts in life that people who are against the 2nd amendment need to come to terms with.
First, there are terrible, violent and downright awful people in the world who want nothing more that to kill, steal, rape and pillage. They maybe have chosen this life or they may have been pushed there, that's not whats important. What is important is that they are in that mindset. Everyone. Listen to me now. Everyone can be pushed into that mind set. It is just a matter of breaking points. Everyone has one, it just depends where you fall on the spectrum or how far you can be pushed or bent without exploding. To think that you are completely peaceful or unwilling to defend yourself if pushed is ridiculous. (Yes, of course there are blaring examples of non-violent protesting, Buddhist monks and nuns, Catholic saints and Hindu Yogis and mystics, but for the sake of brevity we will not include them in this discussion of regular every day U.S. citizens).
Second, if you are willing to do terrible things for reasons of insanity, greed, lust, revenge, anger, spite, jealousy, or downright sociopathic behavior, then you will find a way to do it, with or without the use of firearms. Examples of this can be seen in recent news from China. There has been a rise in random stabbings at elementary schools and day care centers. Specifically, 28-50 year old men, usually disenfranchised in some sense and single, enter a children's school and proceed to stab as many children as they can. The rise in these sadistic and cruel crimes has been largely ignored in the West as there has been a sharp decline in State coverage of these stories.
(For examples of these stories, click here and here and here )
Lastly, guns are a part of our reality and we will not get rid of them by wishing or regulating them away. If people want guns, they will buy, smuggle, steal or make them in the U.S. By simply outlawing them, you create a situation where only the police and criminals have access to them. The same is true by over regulating guns. Over regulation in some ways does the same thing as outlawing them. Everyday people cannot own them, while the criminal element in society will find a way to obtain them. What should be done instead is harsher penalties for gun use during a crime, such as automatic sentences of life or even hard-time with labor, much like they have in Australia or England for serious crimes. It is also important to note at this point, that in Mexico, by way of example, normal citizens are not allowed to own guns, but instead the drug cartels and gangs obtain guns from not only the U.S. but from other arms dealers outside of their own country. The same situation could play out in the U.S. if a gun prohibition were enacted. Guns would be smuggled in and then the American ear would finally learn the ubiquitous bark of the AK-47.
The question still remains, "How can we stem gun violence in the U.S.?" Education and certain types of restrictions should be applied to current state and federal policies to increase the amount of range time as well as bring the age of purchasing up to 21. It seems ridiculous that in many states you can buy a gun and rob a liquor store, before you can legally purchase any of the goods within. Legislation should be put in place to stem the flow of loose and loophole sales made under the auspices of gun shows and conventions. Yes, you should be able to take permit classes and buy weapons at these events, however the fact that background checks are waived in some cases as well as waiting periods seems to suggest that the reality is much looser than we suspect or are being told. (You might have noticed: reality is usually worse than we are told.)
As it stands, open carrying of fire arms is still widely distrusted by the general population. It should be so. Yes, Open-Carriers often harken back to the Old West days, relating themselves to good standing citizens who open carried a six shooter to protect their kin during those dark days of the American Frontier, but the reality is that in the Old West, only out on the Range did men and sometimes women, open carry their pistols. It was against the law in town to open carry. This was to stem drunken violence, because people in the Old West were Idealists, but goddamn if they weren't pragmatic as well.
The only other solution is to carry a concealed weapon, which takes proper instruction as well as more hours of classes than just a gun permit. Some might say, "What's the point if the criminal can't see you have it?" the answer is that you know you have it. You know that you have the ability, (if you have trained well), to use that weapon successfully and protect yourself and yours. Another question thrown around is what do you really need them for? The answer really is in the multiple forms and uses of the word protection. Guns provide protection from violence, hunger, foreign invasion and political tyranny. This author does not suggest that we will be afflicted by either of the latter two any time soon, yet the possibility remains, however faint. The continental U.S. would be a monumental territory to invade or take-over, especially because as armed U.S. citizens would be waiting for the invading forces at every nook and bend in the road. Political tyranny does not seem like a near possibility as our government can't seem to get its shit together enough to stop an oil leak, let alone begin wide scale oppression in opposition to our greatest documents, however the fact remains, "The best defense against tyranny is a well armed populace".
In the End, the 2nd amendment is important for various reasons. First, the founding fathers saw it as a liberating notion as well as an equalizing and stabilizing notion to arm the populace. Second, used correctly, carrying weapons can save lives and thwart violent crime. (for a great example, click here). Third, to try an eliminate guns at this point, is a little naive and simplistic in thought and goes against what we all know about human nature.
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