If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The need to own a gun to defend oneself against an intruder is as natural for an American as enjoying a good Clint Eastwood movie. But the possession of military grade weapons to defend oneself against a larger threat -- such as the government -- has only recently become popular.
A true liberal position, the place to start, is to call for domestic disarmament. That is the banning of the sale of all guns to private parties coupled with a buyback of those on the street.
Our nation's children and families have suffered enough broken hearts. We are determined that children get a vote on common-sense gun safety measures to protect them from guns. Take action with us.
As you say, Wayne, it's my choice which "firearm is right" for my family. And given the threats from drug gangs, terrorists and Obama's tsunami of gun control, which the NRA wisely warns us against, I believe a tank, a drone and a nuclear missile are right for us.
Our founders were not apostles; they were sweating people with clashing intentions, fretting about their newborn country and Philadelphia's occasional outbreaks of yellow fever. Their document -- admirable as it was -- was not holy writ.
Last Saturday, I enacted a new Draconian gun control law at home: I confiscated every toy gun and weapon in our home.
We will not stay silent at ludicrous solutions, like arming school teachers and janitors. Such suggestions are the warnings signs of society descending into a state of chaos.
I am now for a Second Amendment with no interpretation whatsoever. Let's completely and utterly unfetter the Second Amendment from the outlandish suggestions of the type I've made until just now. The Second Amendment, unfettered, makes no exclusion for incarcerated felons. And so, neither should we.
As federal and state governments respond to growing outrage at the unrelenting gun violence destroying families and terrorizing communities, legislators cannot simply defer to the NRA's intransigence.
The Founding Fathers allowed for the right to bear arms to be limited to the arms the majority want among us. They did not obligate us to tolerate arms in the hands of lunatics, arms designed for maximal carnage. But the NRA does.
Barton claimed on his radio show to have "searched" and only found two gun accidents in the founding era, but his claim became even more incredible on Beck's show. Now it's two gun accidents in two hundred years!
Who's responsible for the gun violence in America? The First and Second Amendment have a stand-off.
No doubt the going will get very rough, no doubt politicians will flag, claiming it's "too complicated." Nonsense: It's not complicated. Put simply, are we civilized or not? Do we protect our children or not?
The "Connecticut effect" is simply not what this shameful NRA lobbyist claims it to be. The American people were galvanized by the shooting of 20 innocent children and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and the memory of that event will be forever seared into the American conscience.
The debate over gun control at colleges and universities is progressing, and here are some key states where legislation is being considered.
If we are to evaluate our success as a nation based, at least in part, by our children's well-being, we ought to pay closer attention to what ails them emotionally, and to create a safe environment at home, at school and in the community they depend on to thrive.
