Bacon, Guns & Whiskey

Remember when I talked about that thing that would help solve our problems? This is probably THE single most common “gotcha” people try and hit me with. Do you really think the people who wrote the Constitution wanted people to have machine guns and bazookas? Well they didn’t have those things back in the 1700s, so no, but you know what people could own? Cannons. Actual f**king military artillery. So today, based on that historic example, yes, they would be okay with people owning machine guns and bazookas.

That being said, I’ll stipulate that mental illness is a ‘thing’ now (and getting worse, it seems) where it either wasn’t in the 1700-1800s or it wasn’t so prevalent that the Founders should have worried about ‘Bob’s bazooka’ (er, ‘cannon’).

The problem with that is, without a law degree but with a decent set of circumstances, I could probably convince the Supreme Court that a fully automatic “assault” rifle (we’ll come back to that in a different discussion) is not only my right, but is a necessity. So how do we solve it once and for all? Define “well regulated” and “shall not be infringed” to start with.

Think about recent active assailants — a lot of dead bodies when you put them all together, and kids being among them makes it even more heart-wrenching. Here’s what you don’t ever hear about: the number of mass killings that are stopped before they ever start… by armed bystanders. That doesn’t happen very often, you say? What about Indiana, Colorado Springs, West Virginia, and even research that demonstrates the fact (and there’s a lot of research). And there’s even a decent list.

So I’m obviously a ‘gun guy’ — which you probably already figured out — and between the military and recreational shooting with friends and fellow vets, I’m a decent shot for an old guy. So if someone ever tries to perpetrate a mass killing in front of me, it’s all over for them, right? Well, it depends. In my state, if a business displays a ’no weapons’ sign then it’s a crime if you carry a firearm there. So every doctor’s office and hospital, some restaurants, and many private businesses are ‘gun-free zones.’ The problem with that is that criminals and psychos don’t give a damn about the hospital, restaurant, or theater’s no-weapon policy.

Does that mean we need to give everyone a gun and turn ‘em loose? Not a chance. Here’s my take on the Second Amendment: I’d change it to say “[a] well trained Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” [emphasis mine]. Notice that the difference is training. Regulation, sure, but remember that if it’s not specified in the Constitution then you’re treading on very thin ice.

Maybe we change “militia” to “citizenry”? There are several options, right? It all goes back to clarifying those points in the Constitution that people are using to advance their own view of what the Second Amendment means.