I find myself immersed in politics. It’s not so much that I find it interesting as much as I find it necessary to be aware of. America finds itself as a world superpower. Superpowers are nations that find themselves virtually unmatched within any realm it enters. While America finds itself “virtually unmatched,” there have been others that have come before as superpowers, and yet are no longer. With that knowledge, one is led to ask a simple yet important question: What was it that caused these former superpowers to lose their unbridled power? It’s important to know that not a single superpower has fallen solely by the sword. The sword has certainly hastened the fall of nations, but the sword has never been the sole cause of such destruction. Superpowers, I argue, can never be brought down but by itself. This usually occurs by giving up positions of strength for positions of weakness.
I have often looked back and tried to pinpoint when I became enthralled with politics, and one such occasion especially comes to mind. A day after the Virginia Tech shooting I was watching a news program that mentioned that several students in the particular building that the shooting occurred in had concealed weapons permits, but because of state law they were not allowed to bring their weapons on campus and were instead left in their automobiles. I vividly remember naively thinking to myself, “If only those concealed weapon permit holders were allowed to bring their weapons on campus, far fewer people would have been killed.” I continued my thought, “This event will give plenty of reasons for the 2nd amendment to be reaffirmed.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. The following day I learned that the massacre had been politicized into a push to increase gun control and thereby limiting the 2nd amendment. Now, one is free to agree or disagree with me on this issue, but this is when I first discovered there was a battle of differing ideologies being fought in this country. A battle I was willing to take sides and fight for. A battle that, I believe if lost, will take us from our position of strength to a position of weakness.
I remember this. Such an unfortunate event on so many personal and political levels.
ReplyDeleteEven though I subscribe to more liberal philosophies than I do conservative ones, I was raised in a home with firearms. My father was, and is, an NRA member and some of my fondest memories as a kid are shooting/target practicing, reloading and hunting with my father. I personally own a lever action 30-30, a Remington .244 bolt action and a bolt action .22.
When it comes to 2nd amendment rights, I am for them...however I am also for some common sense legislation.
I agree with your thinking regarding the school shooting; the permit holders should be allowed to do what their permit legally grants them. It's absurd that they were not/are not able to do so.
however, when it comes to general legislation...I see no reason why someone such as myself would ever need an SKS assault rifle in my home. I am reminded of the 8 year old who was killed at a gun show last year (I think here in Utah actually) because he was allowed to play with a loaded Uzi.
AN UZI.
I see no need to have weapons like that in mass circulation. I am quite sure that while you were serving in Iraq, if you saw an Iraqi citizen walking down the street holding an Uzi or an AK-47, you would not have thought "I bet he's just going down the street to the nearest shooting range."
I think protecting our constitutional rights is a very important thing. But I also think that we should be smarter about HOW those rights are protected and the limits of those rights as well. "Well, the constitution says I can have this Uzi, so don't tell me I can't!"
The constitution gives me the right to practice free speech, but it does NOT give me the freedom to scream "fire" or "bomb" in a theater or a crowded public area without legal ramifications.
"Well, there are legal ramifications, so it all works out," some would say.
That kind of garbage simply should not happen. People should be smart enough to know not to yell "bomb" in a crowd, and people should be smart enough to know that owning an Uzi is definitely a little more than going overboard.
My two cents.
js
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI agree with 1.9 of your 2 cents. I'm convinced that's a new record for us. I am pleased to find that you are sympathetic to the second amendment, and I agree with you that there is also a limit to the second amendment. Obviously, no one needs to have an uzi. To my knowledge, no state legally allows automatic weapons, and for good reason. We also have laws against brandishing weapons which I have always agreed with. And tragically, there are adults that possess guns that do not safeguard them adequately and people end up getting hurt as a result. I'm not pinning that as an acceptable loss, it's not. I think such a thing is criminally negligent and should be prosecuted. Here's my main point, and to my great delight I think you agree with me. When push comes to shove, I am the one ultimately responsible for my family's safety. Not the CIA, not the FBI, not the Sheriff's Deparment, Police Department or even my landlord. Those with evil designs will always be able to get their hands on weapons, though our efforts to effect such an end should persist, but we MUST have the option of arming ourselves in a common sense way (ie not with uzi's). I strongly believe in the great blessings the 2nd amendment provides for us so long as we use it correctly.