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sapientmastermind

Muskets Anyone?

Updated: Aug 3, 2022





The tragedy at Uvalde, Texas, yet again served as a wake-up call that we need to take a close look at ourselves as a nation. Seeing the pictures of those young children – babies – on the news is heart-wrenching.


And, yet again, the same talking heads on the TV news channels regurgitate the same age-worn arguments both for and against gun control. You’ve heard them all before:


· Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

· The 2nd amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms.

· The proposed law would not have prevented this tragedy.

· We need enhanced background checks.

· We need a ban on assault rifles.

· Etc., etc., ad nauseum.


Aren’t you getting tired of hearing politicians say, “the thoughts and prayers of the [fill in your favorite number] Congressional district go out to the victims’ families”?? Maybe I’m jaded, but haven’t we gotten past the stage when thoughts and prayers will do the trick?

It is true that many nations have fairly lax gun control laws. It’s also true that those nations aren’t plagued by mass shootings and a homicide rate of 7.8 deaths for every 100,000 citizens (Time, 7/2/2022).


As a comparison, Canada’s gun control laws are somewhat more restrictive than our gun control laws. In 2020, the Canadian homicide rate was 1.95 deaths per 100,000 Canadians (Time, 7/2/2022). And, Canada does not have our mass shooting problem. Are the more restrictive laws resulting in a lower homicide rate, or is this actual proof that Canadians are just very nice people? Perhaps nicer than we are? They did give us Ryan Reynolds and Angeline Lilly, so they’ve got to be pretty nice...


Perhaps a combination of the two. They’re certainly less prone to gun violence than we are.


Despite that, Canadians are currently working on more restrictive legislation in light of the shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.


Without getting too deep into possible psychological reasons for our proclivity for gun violence, let’s just recognize some of our values:


· When the first settlers came to North America from England, they left relative comfort (and religious persecution) and were forced to tame a largely uninhabited wilderness. There were some Native Americans already on the continent, but they were rapidly outnumbered and the persecuted became the persecutors. Only the strongest survived, and some of us look back on them as our ancestors.


· We’re a nation born of war. Canadians wanted freedom from British rule for a long time, too. They started asking for freedom, and when they were told ‘no’, they asked again, and again. It wasn’t until 1867 when the British North America Act formed the Dominion of Canada – a self-governing entity of the British Empire. Finally, over 100 years later, in 1982 (not that long ago), Queen Elizabeth II declared Canada’s independence from the British Parliament. With that said, HRH Elizabeth II is still the official head of state of Canada. Conversely, we asked Britain for our independence a number of times in the 1700s, and when we were told ‘no’, we declared war and took our independence by force.


· When settlers move to the West in search of riches, life was again very hard on an often-unforgiving landscape. We admire them for their gritty accomplishments, and still tell stories and make movies about cowboys.


· We romanticize rugged individualism, previously personified by cowboys and land speculators, and currently embodied by entrepreneurs like Elon Musk – jousting against a regulating government, cut-throat competitors, and even the earth’s own gravity on the way to Mars.


Gun control legislation needs to be tailored to who we are as a nation. We are largely good, kind, well-meaning people who:


· Admire individual strength and ruggedness.


· Were born of war and a well-justified distrust of foreign monarchs.


· Realize that it’s always better to negotiate from a position of strength – or at least a recognized ability to defend our borders.


Our Founding Fathers realized that ready access to guns was important when they authored and ratified the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the subsequent Bill of Rights as amendments to the Constitution. Guns were used to hunt, protect livestock from prey, thwart some crime in many largely lawless territories, and potentially defend the country should we be attacked, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…”


I agree with the Founding Fathers that we should be able to bear arms. I have owned guns in the past, and I may own more in the future. I like guns – pistols in particular – and I enjoy going to a pistol range and working on my aim. And yes, I – like many others – do find some feeling of safety when I know that I have a gun in the house. A well-maintained pistol that is locked to prevent access by children is not, in and of itself, a significant danger. I believe most Americans would agree with that idea.


I like cars, too. I thoroughly enjoy driving a nimble car, and always look forward to the next opportunity to take a road trip. A well-maintained motor vehicle that is used responsibly and is locked to prevent access by children is not, in and of itself, a significant danger. I believe most Americans would agree with that idea, too.


To own and drive and car, I have to:


· Demonstrate my knowledge of traffic laws.


· Demonstrate my ability to safely operate the vehicle.


· Demonstrate that I am properly maintaining my vehicle by having it inspected annually by a trained mechanic (in the Commonwealth of Virginia).


· Purchase automobile insurance in case of intellectual flatulence (mine or that of my fellow citizens’).


· Register my vehicle so that first responders can look up my identity in case of an accident, theft, or if I violate traffic laws, etc.


To own and fire a firearm, I have to:


· Pass a background check if I buy the firearm at most locations, with some exceptions.


· Wait a few days to ensure I’m not in a temporary rage, if I buy the firearm in some states.


While some states have added some additional requirements to firearm purchases, many have not.


And that’s about it.


I don’t have to demonstrate proficiency in using the purchased firearm; I don’t have to demonstrate that I’m properly maintaining it; and in my state – Virginia – I don’t have to register it…only fully automatic firearms require registration.


It’s time to rethink our whole approach to firearms and laws regulating their ownership.


As previously mentioned, the Founding Fathers believed in the right to bear arms. At the time of the Bill of Rights’ drafting, owning a firearm meant owning a musket or two. Semi-automatic weapons with magazines did not exist, and dozens of manufacturers around the world were not mass-producing AR-15s. Just as we amended the Constitution to end slavery and begin women’s suffrage, we need to recognize that it is time to amend our right to bear arms.


There is no reason for it to be easier to own and operate a firearm than it is to own and operate a motor vehicle. A firearm owner should be required to demonstrate proficiency in use of a gun, and all guns should be registered to their owners. Gun owners should demonstrate firearm maintenance periodically and be held responsible for the consequences of their children’s actions if their firearms were not properly stored and were misused. For those of you that are strict interpreters of the Constitution, there can be a legislative carve-out: you’ll be able to own a musket without any requirements or limitations. If a would-be mass-murderer gets hold of a musket, he or she would possibly kill one person before being taken down by people in the area.





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