As a native Mississippian, I experience some cognitive dissonance when it comes to guns. Don't get me wrong, guns - when used appropriately and safely - can be a lot of fun. I think that Americans should have the right to bear arms as protected by our Constitution. However I think that the 2nd Amendment needs a little revisiting. We've interpreted "arms" - which used to mean flintlock muskets - to mean fully automatic assault weapons the sole function of which is to inflict death.
America's gun laws need significant reform, and they need to be stricter. If the assassination attempt of Gabrielle Giffords and the tragic and senseless deaths of six other innocent people isn't enough to convince you of that then maybe this article is. In the last 24 hours, 11 police officers have been shot nationwide. The police. These are the people whose job it is to protect us, and in just over a day, 11 of them have been shot. That's a problem.
Americans should have the right to bear arms, but our interpretation of arms has gone too far and needs scaling back. I'm sorry but you don't need an assault weapon if you're not in the military. You just don't and no sane person believes otherwise. You may have fun with an assault weapon, but you do not NEED one. You also don't need a clip that lets you fire 30 rounds or a stainless steel weapon that is effectively fingerprint proof. The founding fathers would be horrified if they could see what we have done to the 2nd Amendment. Imagine Thomas Jefferson being faced with the prospect of a private citizen stockpiling canons the way some people today stockpile assault rifles and ammunition. It's tough to imagine because that's not what the founding fathers had in mine when they guaranteed our right to keep weapons.
If we believe that all Americans have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then we should start asking ourselves, what about the right to life? Is the life of a 9 year old girl less important that the "right" to bear an assault weapon? The answer is no. How many innocent people and police officers are going to be shot before we realize that the point of rights is to protect people, and when the right bear arms starts to impinge on people's livelihoods, then that right has been taken too far.
To make matters worse, the NRA has taken steps to prevent research on the topic of gun safety from taking place because studies have shown that guns actually makes situations more dangerous rather than safer. So the people lobbying for assault weapons have undermined the ability of scientists to comment on the claim that weapons make us safer because, in fact, findings showed that weapons did not make us safer. Chew on the irony and then spit it out in disgust.
Americans have the right to bear arms and they can and should exercise that right. But things have gone too far and the conversation on the 2nd Amendment has been dominated by the wrong side for too long. It's ok to own a handgun, it's ok to own a shotgun or a rifle. It's ok to shoot for pleasure and it's ok to hunt. It's not ok to have an assault rifle and it's obviously not ok to use any weapon against other people. I can only hope that all the senseless shootings over the last decade have made people realize that the obsession with gun rights has made our country more dangerous. The law-abiding gun wielders of NRA myth aren't stepping up to prevent crime, but the people who should be preventing crime, the police, are in danger everyday because of how easy it is to buy an outrageous weapon. And not just the police, but innocent people in every state in the nation. It's time for a sensible change to a safer culture of guns.
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