It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, which, ostensibly, protects those who are armed, but not those who are unarmed.
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, that esteems those who are active on the gun retail market, but not those who, for one reason or another, seek to abstain from such participation.
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, to protect and to coddle the very thing that, materially, poses the greatest threat to all and sundry in this country.
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, which was conceived of through war, to protect the country’s citizens from their enemies without, to now allow those same citizens, on behalf of their enemies, to pull the trigger against fellow citizens, in times of peace — within.
What genius!
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, which sees the only solution to most of life’s problems here in America as the incessant discharging of bullets from a gun.
What imbecility!
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, that safeguards the rights of both the sane and the insane, and those of the law-abiding and the law-breaking to carry assault weapons.
What confusion!
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment — being blind to the turmoil caused by the gun, deaf to the cries of innocents slaughtered by the gun, with scales ever tilting in favour of the manufacturers of the gun, and which wields a sword that slices through all reasonable calls for the urgent, necessary and fair regulation of the gun.
What justice!
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, which asserts the unbridled freedom of its private citizens to purchase all that they need to defend themselves, including assault rifles, and yet, through sleight of hand, forbids the ownership and use of heavy artillery, surface-to-air missiles, armoured vehicles, battleships, fighter bombers, nuclear-powered submarines and intercontinental ballistic rockets.
What freedom!
It is a strange thing, that Second Amendment, which expects law enforcement to magically effect crime control across this land — at the back end, and yet not recognize its own culpability in aiding, in abetting, and in exacerbating the problem, and by rendering all such efforts at prevention futile — from the front end.
What wisdom!
The Second Amendment did not work for the 10 victims who were gunned down while shopping in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York on Saturday, May 14, 2022 — among them a retired police lieutenant, a teacher, a grandmother, and a community activist. It worked against them and not for them. The Second Amendment, instead, worked quite well for the shooter on that occasion.
And as it did in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 17, 2022; in Columbia, South Carolina on April 16, 2022; in New York City, New York on April 12, 2022; in Sacramento, California on April 3, 2022; in Portland, Oregon, on February 19, 2022; and in so many places before, leaving families and communities to bury their dead, to pick up the pieces, and listen to the mantra of “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims” by heartless politicians, so it will continue until common sense, as the dawn, lifts us all out of this dark and hellish night.
The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: “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.” Many historians agree that the primary reason for passing the Second Amendment was to prevent the need for the United States to have a professional standing army. At the time it was passed, it seems it was not intended to grant a right for private individuals to keep weapons for self-defence. And yet, here we are.
That being said, America, therefore, cannot have it both ways. The nation must either disband all branches of its military — those being the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines and the Coast Guard — and depend on ad hoc state militias as some of the nation’s founders wanted. Or, it must, conversely, dispense with the unconscionable and the tragic arming of its citizens and prevent the continued manipulation of them by their money-grubbing enablers, allegedly, so as to better be able to police and defend themselves and rely on our armed forces as we now do.
The Second Amendment is as a pacifier in a mouth affixed with dentures. It is as the continued use of diapers by one who is long passed potty training. It is as tissue in a body which has become cancerous and is now feeding upon itself. It is as a water sprinkler in a parking lot paved with concrete. It is as a horse and buggy rattling and rumbling along in an age purring with high-tech gasoline-electric hybrid motor vehicles. It is as one with his head in the sand at the approach of a devastating tsunami.
It is not too late, America. If we are prepared to save lives — at the front end, by banning the abortion of babies, then we must also attempt to save the lives of those babies — at the back end, by addressing this matter of the gun as an existential threat, which it most certainly is.
