Thursday, April 11, 2013

Guns


What Matters Most…………Commentary by Jim High
The 2nd amendment has been around for a long time, so what’s different today? As a kid I went to movies full of killing and violence. What’s different today that makes folks go out and shoot people in mass killings, to say nothing of the 10,000+ handgun killings each year.
Well for one thing when I went to the double feature every Saturday afternoon and saw cowboys riding around killing cattle rustlers, I came out of the theatre back into 1940’s and 50’s Tupelo where no one rode horses or wore a six shooter on their hip. Today when you go to the movies and see terrible violence, you come out back into real life that looks just like the movie.
Another huge difference is television. We see murder and killing and craziness every night on TV no matter where it might occur in the whole country. Seriously watch the local TV news every night; it’s like the nightly crime report. I get so tired of watching people walking between court and jail. Do we really need to know about every idiot who got into a shoot out with some drug dealer? Why is that news? Maybe I should ask why are other people interested, because I’m certainly not.
We having a huge gun debate in this country right now based on the mass shootings of the past year. Most of the debate centers around the 2ndamendment adopted on December 15, 1791. So what does it actually say? “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.” That’s it. Seems simple, but we have made it something very complicated. For example what does “well regulated”mean? What is the intended use of the word “militia”? And what is the definition of “arms”?
1791 was a long time ago. Today we don’t have a need for a public militia, and the definition of arms is not the single shot pistols and muskets of those long ago days. Today we have a National Guard in every state and a federal standing army, plus a navy, air force, marines and the coast guard. But regardless of the obvious extreme difference in 1791 and 2013, the 2ndamendment has come to mean that as a citizen each of us has a right to own a gun, or guns. But what kind and how many?
Certain types of arms are outlawed already and for good reason. I just used a word that no one seems to want to talk about – Reason. Is it reasonable for a private citizen to own a gun developed for the military that can shoot 30, 50, 100 bullets before reloading? Is it reasonable for a private citizen to own 10, 20, 50 guns of all types? I wonder if people in 1791 thought the 2nd amendment gave them the right to own a cannon.
Another huge problem seems to be the fear of gun registration. Who fears automobile registration? Or is scared and thinks it wrong for the government to require registration of their boat? Then there is the issue of background checks. But the sale of guns at gun shows and over the Internet and between private individuals requires nothing now but the cash. Who thinks this is reasonable? If you are sane, law abiding and not planning to kill anyone, you should not worry about any background checks or even anyone, including the government, knowing that you own a gun and what kind it is. I own two hand guns myself. I keep one in my apartment and one at my home at Pickwick Lake.
What Matters Most………..is that we have a serious gun problem in this country. Admitting that must be a first step in getting to a solution. And we must get to a solution. How many more mass shootings will it take to wake us up to reasonable changes? The next mass shooting could be anywhere, even here in Lee County. Do you want that? I don’t, not for here, not for anywhere. And I must add that the NRA’s solution to our nation’s gun problem being just more guns is total lunacy.

© 2013 #8 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467

 

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