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REGULATED MILITIA |
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How long will we let the
NRA make our gun laws?
of TheColumnists.com
The Virginia Tech
tragedy again brings to the fore the most neglected, ignored,
mis-used words of the brilliant creation of the United States
Constitution in 1789.
A “well-regulated militia” was the heart of the second
amendment as the framers added a Bill of Rights to the original
wording of the document.
They said the necessity of a militia was the reason there should
be no infringement of the “right of the people to keep and
bear arms.”
The National Rifle Association and other gun-toting organizations
over more than two centuries have carefully ignored the aspect
of the militia in demanding their Constitutional privileges for
keeping and bearing arms.
The true events of the campus massacre will change and evolve
over the next days and weeks. One thing will be certain. NRA
types will stand up proudly and proclaim, “Guns don’t
kill, people do.”
Some how this crazed killer obtained weapons, carried them across
campus and destroyed the lives of 33 families. The wimps in Congress
should look themselves in the mirror each morning for the rest
of their lives and see how they contributed.
Few stand up to the NRA. They are all haunted by the power of
this organization. They will either duck the issue of gun control
or water down any suggested ideas to the point of irrelevance.
One political figure in the country, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
of New York City, the billionaire broadcasting magnate, has campaigned
without regard to the NRA and the gun-lovers. He has rallied
dozens of Mayors across the land to push for stronger gun control
laws within their own communities in hopes that guns may actually
diminish or disappear from their own streets.
Ignoring the clause concerning the well regulated militia, gun
bearers howl about their Constitutional rights at any attempt
of control.
Why should anyone but a public officer be allowed to purchase
a weapon of mass destruction, as evidenced by the Virginia Tech
killing machine?
The trickle down theory from gun manufacturers, to gun dealers,
to gun purchasers to these school episodes clearly indicates
the trail of horror.
Most of us never get near a deadly weapon. I last touched a gun
more than 50 years ago while serving in the Army in Japan. I
carried a rifle with one clip and wore an unloaded .45 in a holster
while guarding an Army barracks.
The sadness of the Virginia Tech episode only becomes more painful
when we realize that in a week or two, a month maybe, the tragic
experience on a quiet college campus will be pushed aside in
the public consciousness by the next Anna Nicole Smith revelation,
the next Britney Spears rehab, the next loud-mouthed popoff by
a shock jock or a confused actor.
We live in a free, democratic, creative society. It even allows
for nuts. If we do nothing seriously to get weapons out of the
hands of these demented characters and allow the NRA to make
our gun rules, we can only expect another Virginia Tech tragedy
before too long.
Keep that in mind every time you walk into a crowded shopping
mall, board a plane or bus or send a kid off to a bucolic college
campus.
©2007 by Maury Allen. The Maury Allen
caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The illustration is from
IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San
Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first posted April 23,
2007.
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