Bear Arms [.]

Considering Minge’s comment yesterday on my dad’s rifle, I thought that I would post about gun rights and a little bit about gun culture in the United States. Today’s picture is of a gun shop that is in Niles about five streets down from where I used to live. Even when I was young I looked at it with mild amusement. It was near the worse neighborhoods in Niles. In fact, the last street riot was one or two blocks over. So it seems to me that it is perfectly situated.

Growing up, I was always around guns. Rather, I was always around people who used guns. While on a military base, men could be walking around with assault rifles and I wouldn’t give it a second thought. What I really would have liked to have seen were the laser guns that the military supposedly was supposed to be developing. Now that would have been cool. When Dad retired, I lived with my grandparents for some time. Grandpa was a hunter so I was exposed to that. I’ve even seen him use a pistol on the farm to kill captured rodents. But I was raised to never touch a gun without an adult around. Besides, the opportunity to even come in contact with such a weapon was very rare. The closest that I’ve ever really gotten into such things was when my Uncle Art let me use an air rifle that shot pellets but I quickly lost interest.

Hunting and the firearms that went with it largely died with my grandfather. Although my uncles have been on hunts with Grandpa, none of them hunt. My dad expresses no desire to go out in the wilderness to bag a beast and neither do I. But, as you have seen, he does own a rifle. He never uses it but it’s there. I’ll have to ask why he never got a side arm from the Air Force. Although he received training, I don’t think he was ever issued one since he wasn’t in combat role nor ever likely to be in one. Still, it has to be possible that he could have gotten one. I mean, if he’s got a SAM (spent, of course) lying around, why not a pistol?

The possibility of me owning a firearm is not out of the question but it’s very low on my to-do list. I’d like to take it up, but I fear that I don’t have the time or patience to properly deal with such a tool. The training, costs, and hassles (like cleaning), isn’t really worth appeasing my curiosity. In short, I don’t care for guns but I support any responsible person if they want to have one. Of course that position is simplistic.

The Second of Amendment in the Bill of Rights says, “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.” Both sides of the gun debate have dissected this amendment to death. Gun supporters say that this amendment gives people the right to own firearms. Some claim to the point that it allows a person to own any type of firearm without governmental interference. Gun opponents on the other end of the spectrum claim that the amendment was meant to arm a militia, and since militias are now obsolete, so is the amendment. Some claim to the point that the government has the ability and even duty to ban guns completely.

Going back to the Revolutionary War, we must remember that the uprising against the British was largely dependent on militias from the various colonies to rise up for rebellion. To raise militias and later, the continental army, the revolutionary leaders needed ordinary men to leave their homes and take with them their own arms. Even the philosophical argument to the Second Amendment comes from the belief that all governments are not to be trusted and that there is a “cycle of tyranny.” A safeguard against a tyrannical government is an armed public.

Personally, I believe that the Second Amendment does afford the people the right to arm themselves. However, unlike the more radical supporters, I think that governmental regulations on this point are appropriate and needed. The volumes of various laws that could be written on this are too much to even dream about but I suppose it would be good to highlight some of my own personal opinions:

Do I think that a reasonable person should be able to own firearms? Yes.
Do I believe that people should be licensed to own a firearm? Yes.
Do I believe that people should be restricted to what kinds of arms they buy? Yes. There is no reason why a person should be able to buy armor piercing bullets, high grade explosives, RPGs, and tanks. Nor should they expect to be able to turn in thousands of Pepsi bottle caps in exchange for a fighter jet.
Do I think that weapons bans in public are unreasonable? Certainly not.

Anyone want to throw me a question?

Incidentally, the Second Amendment has not been applied to the states*. In other words, your state may decide to ban firearms.




*Neither has the right to indictment by a grand jury (5), jury trial in civil cases (7), or against excessive fines and bail (8). Check your local state constitution for more information.