Guns Out of Control

By SAM URETSKY

Again. You can almost think of it as a moveable feast – we do this every year, but not at the same time. The United States has a discussions of firearms control – with no progress made.

ATLANTA: Eight people were killed by a gunman at three Atlanta-area massage businesses in attacks that began the evening of March 16.

BOULDER, COLORADO: March 22, a shooter at a supermarket killed 10 people

ORANGE, CALIFORNIA: March 31, a gunman killed four people and critically wounded a fifth

INDIANAPOLIS : April 15, gunman killed eight people and wounded several others.

On April 14, Gail Collins, a brilliant New York Times columnist published a column headed “Our Firearms Problems Just Keep Piling Up: The gun crazies go wild and children die from curious trigger fingers.”  Perhaps her key point is that in addition to the mass shooting, there are tragedies caused by gun owners being  careless with how they carry or store firearms:

“Last year at least 371 children stumbled across a loaded gun and fired, causing 143 deaths and 243 injuries. In one case, a 3-year-old shot himself to death with a pistol that had fallen out of the pocket of a member of his family — apparently while the adults were playing cards.”

There are episodes from the past.  On Feb 20, 2015 — A mother of two accidentally killed herself while trying to adjust a gun she carried in a “bra holster.” On June 15, 2018 “Police say a 6-year-old boy fired a loaded gun he discovered in a showroom couch at an Indiana Ikea store” Nobody was injured, but the conclusion was that the gun owner was sitting on the couch when the gun slipped out of his pocket. Careless.

Beyond that, on April 15, the Washington Post reported in discussions of plans for the attack on the Capital of Jan. 6. The information, collected from the now defunct web site TheDonald.win, included this advice: “180 rounds minimum for main rifle, another 50 for sidearm, per person.” The first amendment guarantees “… the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That’s fair.

In contrast, the Second Amendment to the Constitution is both short and vague: “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.” The Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers have an extended discussion of whether having a well regulated militia would be too much of a hardship on the citizenry who have more on their minds than going to musket drill, and whether the federal government might not coopt the militia. Apparently the Founding Fathers decided to agree to disagree and settled for a throw away line that didn’t really please anybody. What could go wrong?

Okay – the claim that firearms are intended only to kill is incorrect. Target sports have a long tradition, and the modern Summer Olympics includes 15 shooting events, although two use air guns. In these events the rifles are single-shot and have to be reloaded after each round. In the Winter Olympics, the biathlon (shooting and skiing) uses rifles. These rifles use .22 long rifle (LR) ammunition and are bolt action or Fortner (straight-pull bolt) action.

There are other justifiable needs for firearms.  Farmers may need them to keep predators from livestock – hunters may need them to provide food  – rural residents may live too far from police to rely on fast response.  There are police, armed guards, infantrymen, and other occupations that require firearms – but there should also be rational restrictions.

Firearms are sometimes compared to cars, which also kill people – but a license to drive requires a written test and a road test, and reckless driving is subject to loss of license. Accidental shootings are also due to recklessness – but not penalized. It seems unlikely that Congress will pass anything like a meaningful firearms law. The “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 was passed by the House and went to the Senate on March 4, 2019. It’s 2021, and that bill is still sitting there.

The Biden administration is doing what it can – but it can’t do much without Congress. The ban on “ghost guns” do it yourself gun kits that don’t have serial numbers, will be nice, but may not have much effect. The Department of Justice will compile a series of suggestions for the states as tht want to improve their gun control standards – that would be helpful if it can find those states.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said, “Let me be clear about that, it’s not gonna happen. We have a God-given right to defend our families, defend our state, and defend ourselves against tyranny, and we will do this.” In other words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are … the right to own and carry semi-automatic rifles with flash suppressors.” Isn’t that self evident?

Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living in Louisville, Ky. Email sdu01@outlook.com.

From The Progressive Populist, May 15, 2021

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