Yet again, the Simpsons make a joke out of one of our keenly observed American tenets. Our precious Second Amendment, our right to weapons, etc, etc... (First the mad scientist, then the mad grad student... when will it end? -Futurama). Alright, enough with quotes and more to the point. I've been on a road to this post since the triple homicide took place just under a month ago not all that far from where I live. A week ago, Nic and I partook in a viewing of "The Cartridge Family," a Simpsons episode where Homer gets a gun (referenced in the title of this post). Finally, last night a shooting took place outside of Centennial Hall, a block from where I spent two years of my life, five blocks from where I spent another year, and a block from where my sister currently resides (to recap, T-Hall, Dinnaken apts, and Pio). The road wasn't clear a month ago. In fact, I haven't really given the topic of guns a lot of thought for quite some time. A case went through the Supreme Court a few years ago striking down a ban in D.C. on handguns, but that came and went. However, this is fresh in my mind and I must be honest that I have come to a conclusion. If you support the right to own a handgun, you are an idiot. Yet, I don't want to leave it at that... I would like to elaborate your idiocy... Let's begin...
Before I begin, I would like to give my blessing to hunting rifles. Hunters should hunt. It's an American tradition and all. Please enjoy. This post specifically refers to handguns and other ridiculous weapons... the ones meant to kill people specifically.
Guns kill people. I hate to sound like a broken record, a cliche, predictable (like the broken record metaphor), but it's true and there is no way around it. A common counter is that people kill people. Well, I'll succumb to the point, but come on now... If every malice harboring person had a handgun this country would be f'ed. Moreover, I can't help but think that if that the shooters in south Minneapolis and at the University had been carrying rifles instead of being able to conceal a handgun, someone would have stopped them. At the very least, maybe said to the themselves, "this shit is messed up," and then called the police.
Next, I'm not sure where inane idea that concealed weapons add some sort of added protection to a person's life (reference: first sentence of paragraph above). I try to imagine a US where police wouldn't need to worry about being shot. Hell, I imagine a US where I wouldn't need to worry about being shot. Thankfully, I believe it is rare that a person knows another person who has had a hand gun pointed at him or her. However, I believe it is far rarer that a person knows someone who has actually used their gun to deter another with a gun. I don't know a single person who has done that. I don't expect to.
Finally, we come to the Constitutional argument. Of course we have the Second Amendment and I won't run around it with some belief that the founders didn't intend for it to apply in the way it is. I admit that the Second Amendment is valid and should probably apply to the states as the other Amendment's do. Yet, like our other rights, I believe it should be curbed to some extent (obviously). We limits on our rights and the Supreme Court has stated those limits are constitutional if they serve a compelling government interest. Again, I make no argument to to get rid of all guns... just the ones that are obviously used for killing people.
To sum up, this was a cranky post. A post mostly fueled by the feeling I had after I found out about the shooting in front of Centennial. I sat there and thought, "statistically, there is a good chance that could be/could have been my sister." I understand that this wouldn't be an overnight job, however I do believe we need to start somewhere.
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