First let me preface this article by saying that I am a strict supporter of my 2nd Amendment rights and I am a gun owner.
Now, let's move on.
On December 15, 1791 the 2nd Amendment was adopted to guarantee the right of every American to "keep and bear arms".
The intent of this amendment was to ensure the continuation of a well-regulated militia.
The founders of our young country we ever aware of the difficulty faced trying to win our freedom from England.
There was no real standing army and the small government could not afford to maintain one.
During the revolution volunteers were stepping forward to fight, but had no weapons to use.
After the war was over and America had won its independence the founding father's realized that we also had to be able to hold onto that independence and protect this country.
Again, with very little money for a standing army and the world's foremost military power chomping at the bit for revenge, something had to happen to help keep this country armed and defensible.
Enter the 2nd amendment.
The right of all Americans to keep and bear arms solved the issue at hand by allowing citizens to have weapons of their own, thus keeping an armed and potentially well-regulated militia.
The 2nd amendment also increased the potential for westward expansion as normal citizens now had a means to protect themselves against Indians, hunt for food and protect themselves against other large predators.
In 1812 the United States saw the idea tested and confirmed that an armed populace can aid with the defense of a nation.
Subsequent years saw more westward expansion and firearms makers became leaders in industry churning out weapons as fast as they could.
Years later the "west was won" by these same companies by producing firearms of high quality and quantity.
After the defeat of the English in 1812 and throughout the taming of the Wild West during the mid to late 1800′s, the firearm started to become used for less honorable purposes.
Veterans from the Indian wars started turning their firearm expertise to criminal intent such as stagecoach robberies, train robberies and bank robberies.
Generally speaking these bandits and outlaws were not likely to fire on unarmed civilians, but law enforcement officers were fair game, a practice that has unfortunately continued to this day.
In the 1900′s our nation seemed to go through changes or events every decade.
From 1900 until the 1980′s there was so much change in this country that guns and gun laws didn't ever really enter into the fight.
Starting in the 1980′s with the rise of cocaine and drug cartels in Miami and other popular port cities, gun control became a topic of serious discussion.
Cops all too often found themselves completely outgunned in street battles against criminals in the drug trade.
This was different from any other time in history as the profit potential from the drug trade was so high people were willing to kill anyone, at any time, to protect their illicit income.
News reports of people being gunned down in the streets became ever more present and pressure began to build.
The biggest single event in the 1980′s was the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by a mentally unstable man named John Hinckley Jr.
On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley shot President Reagan and three other people including Press Secretary James Brady.
Brady was left paralyzed and permanently disabled from his wound to the head.
This event led to the proposal and later the passage of a gun control bill called The Brady Bill.
The Brady Bill was followed in the early 1990′s by the Federal Assault Weapons Ban which banned the ownership and manufacture for civilian use of semi-automatic "assault weapons".
These weapons were characterized and defined as: Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following: 1) Folding or telescoping stock 2) Pistol Grip 3) Bayonet Mount 4) Flash Suppressor (or capable of mounting one) The last criteria was a muzzle mounted grenade launcher, but I don't think that really enters into the discussion.
Following these criteria many weapons were banned and unable to be purchased or owned after the ban took effect.
Many of these weapons are very popular, such as the AR-15 and many variations of the same.
Also following this ban the number and amount of deaths by firearms in this country dropped by...
well, virtually nothing.
Here is the problem with the ban, it only affects lawfully registered gun owners and the occasional nutcase.
Most recently in the news was a young man in Colorado that legally purchased a small arsenal and then went on a rampage in a movie theater killing or wounding 70 people.
Should the guns he used be banned because of the carnage he was able to create? Absolutely not.
Should the laws be strengthened to stop this from happening in the future? We'll come back to that.
So, in the beginning of this country's young life we needed the guns to save us from those that oppressed us and to protect our fledgling borders.
In this country's youth the gun was of major importance in securing westward expansion and providing normal citizens with a method of self-protection.
Over the past 30 years the use of the gun coupled with the illicit trade of drugs has placed the topic of gun control firmly in the front seat at every political event at the state and federal level.
I think it's time to rethink gun control and get tougher than we are now.
No, I don't think we need to take guns away from Americans that have legally obtained them.
No I don't think we need to make it nearly impossible to own a firearm, or even more difficult than it is now for the most part.
I suggest the following changes to our gun control laws;
Most of the criminals that are using guns to kill or maim in the streets are not getting the guns legally so all the gun control in the world won't help that situation.
Here are ideas for gun control penalties;
It would not be an immediate precipitous drop but over the course of 2-4 years it would be noticeable.
Currently a drug dealer knows that he'll get 2-4 years of real-time if he is caught dealing drugs.
The jails and prisons are overcrowded which leads to early release and while in jail he knows he'll most likely learn to be a better criminal and get some great criminal connections.
Prison isn't the deterrent it used to be for a certain subset of our population.
Now, there are those that will scream that harsher sentences have not been shown to be affective in deterring criminal acts.
I call bullshit on this because prison life has gotten nothing but easier over the past 100 years in America.
Sure, the UK and France can eliminate the death penalty and feel good about it, they don't have the same issues we have in America.
We are trying to fix a problem that already exists, not keep something from becoming a problem.
In closing I think gun control should be looked at in regards to where and how these statistics are being generated.
In Chicago alone the homicide rate has soared over 60% from last year in the first three months of 2012 and once the numbers come out it will probably be worse for the second quarter.
As roughly 90% of these shootings are occurring in the south and southwest sides of the city I doubt that a single registered gun (that wasn't stolen) was used in any of the shootings.
Further, very few (maybe 1%) of the shootings were "assault weapons", the rest being pistols.
Ultimately I believe each state should be at the forefront of finding solutions to these issues, not the federal government.
Each state has different issues in relation to gun control based on their makeup and what works for one certainly might not work for others.
Stop messing with law-abiding citizens and start cracking down on the criminals that are creating these issues.
Now, let's move on.
On December 15, 1791 the 2nd Amendment was adopted to guarantee the right of every American to "keep and bear arms".
The intent of this amendment was to ensure the continuation of a well-regulated militia.
The founders of our young country we ever aware of the difficulty faced trying to win our freedom from England.
There was no real standing army and the small government could not afford to maintain one.
During the revolution volunteers were stepping forward to fight, but had no weapons to use.
After the war was over and America had won its independence the founding father's realized that we also had to be able to hold onto that independence and protect this country.
Again, with very little money for a standing army and the world's foremost military power chomping at the bit for revenge, something had to happen to help keep this country armed and defensible.
Enter the 2nd amendment.
The right of all Americans to keep and bear arms solved the issue at hand by allowing citizens to have weapons of their own, thus keeping an armed and potentially well-regulated militia.
The 2nd amendment also increased the potential for westward expansion as normal citizens now had a means to protect themselves against Indians, hunt for food and protect themselves against other large predators.
In 1812 the United States saw the idea tested and confirmed that an armed populace can aid with the defense of a nation.
Subsequent years saw more westward expansion and firearms makers became leaders in industry churning out weapons as fast as they could.
Years later the "west was won" by these same companies by producing firearms of high quality and quantity.
After the defeat of the English in 1812 and throughout the taming of the Wild West during the mid to late 1800′s, the firearm started to become used for less honorable purposes.
Veterans from the Indian wars started turning their firearm expertise to criminal intent such as stagecoach robberies, train robberies and bank robberies.
Generally speaking these bandits and outlaws were not likely to fire on unarmed civilians, but law enforcement officers were fair game, a practice that has unfortunately continued to this day.
In the 1900′s our nation seemed to go through changes or events every decade.
From 1900 until the 1980′s there was so much change in this country that guns and gun laws didn't ever really enter into the fight.
Starting in the 1980′s with the rise of cocaine and drug cartels in Miami and other popular port cities, gun control became a topic of serious discussion.
Cops all too often found themselves completely outgunned in street battles against criminals in the drug trade.
This was different from any other time in history as the profit potential from the drug trade was so high people were willing to kill anyone, at any time, to protect their illicit income.
News reports of people being gunned down in the streets became ever more present and pressure began to build.
The biggest single event in the 1980′s was the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by a mentally unstable man named John Hinckley Jr.
On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley shot President Reagan and three other people including Press Secretary James Brady.
Brady was left paralyzed and permanently disabled from his wound to the head.
This event led to the proposal and later the passage of a gun control bill called The Brady Bill.
The Brady Bill was followed in the early 1990′s by the Federal Assault Weapons Ban which banned the ownership and manufacture for civilian use of semi-automatic "assault weapons".
These weapons were characterized and defined as: Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following: 1) Folding or telescoping stock 2) Pistol Grip 3) Bayonet Mount 4) Flash Suppressor (or capable of mounting one) The last criteria was a muzzle mounted grenade launcher, but I don't think that really enters into the discussion.
Following these criteria many weapons were banned and unable to be purchased or owned after the ban took effect.
Many of these weapons are very popular, such as the AR-15 and many variations of the same.
Also following this ban the number and amount of deaths by firearms in this country dropped by...
well, virtually nothing.
Here is the problem with the ban, it only affects lawfully registered gun owners and the occasional nutcase.
Most recently in the news was a young man in Colorado that legally purchased a small arsenal and then went on a rampage in a movie theater killing or wounding 70 people.
Should the guns he used be banned because of the carnage he was able to create? Absolutely not.
Should the laws be strengthened to stop this from happening in the future? We'll come back to that.
So, in the beginning of this country's young life we needed the guns to save us from those that oppressed us and to protect our fledgling borders.
In this country's youth the gun was of major importance in securing westward expansion and providing normal citizens with a method of self-protection.
Over the past 30 years the use of the gun coupled with the illicit trade of drugs has placed the topic of gun control firmly in the front seat at every political event at the state and federal level.
I think it's time to rethink gun control and get tougher than we are now.
No, I don't think we need to take guns away from Americans that have legally obtained them.
No I don't think we need to make it nearly impossible to own a firearm, or even more difficult than it is now for the most part.
I suggest the following changes to our gun control laws;
- Anyone with a criminal history of felony drug arrests, robbery, rape or other violent crime is not allowed to own or purchase.
- Anyone with a history of mental illness is not allowed to own or purchase.
- Anyone that is not a citizen or green card holder is not allowed to own or purchase.
Most of the criminals that are using guns to kill or maim in the streets are not getting the guns legally so all the gun control in the world won't help that situation.
Here are ideas for gun control penalties;
- Anyone convicted of using a gun to commit robbery or during an illegal drug transaction is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
- Anyone convicted of using a gun in a hate crime resulting in bodily injury is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
- Anyone convicted of using a gun during the commission of a violent crime such as rape is sentenced to life without parole.
- Anyone convicted of using a gun to cause the death of another person while committing a felony act (robbery, rape, drug sales, etc) is sentenced to death by lethal injection.
It would not be an immediate precipitous drop but over the course of 2-4 years it would be noticeable.
Currently a drug dealer knows that he'll get 2-4 years of real-time if he is caught dealing drugs.
The jails and prisons are overcrowded which leads to early release and while in jail he knows he'll most likely learn to be a better criminal and get some great criminal connections.
Prison isn't the deterrent it used to be for a certain subset of our population.
Now, there are those that will scream that harsher sentences have not been shown to be affective in deterring criminal acts.
I call bullshit on this because prison life has gotten nothing but easier over the past 100 years in America.
Sure, the UK and France can eliminate the death penalty and feel good about it, they don't have the same issues we have in America.
We are trying to fix a problem that already exists, not keep something from becoming a problem.
In closing I think gun control should be looked at in regards to where and how these statistics are being generated.
In Chicago alone the homicide rate has soared over 60% from last year in the first three months of 2012 and once the numbers come out it will probably be worse for the second quarter.
As roughly 90% of these shootings are occurring in the south and southwest sides of the city I doubt that a single registered gun (that wasn't stolen) was used in any of the shootings.
Further, very few (maybe 1%) of the shootings were "assault weapons", the rest being pistols.
Ultimately I believe each state should be at the forefront of finding solutions to these issues, not the federal government.
Each state has different issues in relation to gun control based on their makeup and what works for one certainly might not work for others.
Stop messing with law-abiding citizens and start cracking down on the criminals that are creating these issues.