Our children keep paying the price…
This was written and posted on Facebook in February 2016.
Six years ago.
Think about how many we have lost to this sickness since then.
How many more of our little innocents have to pay with their lives until the rest of us force the gutless wonders in Congress to take effective action to protect them?
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “O my country…,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 25 May 2022).
I agree it is a sickness. Mental illness is a very large component of the mass shootings by young men in this country. A study from about 2 years ago showed that all but one shooter was on a prescription drug for ADHD. These drugs come with warnings (in some cases black box warnings) about thoughts of suicide, endangering “oneself”, etc. It is way past time for this issue to be acknowledged and addressed as an integral part of this horrible issue.
Preventing guns from getting into the hands of minors is also critical. Teaching a young person to hunt is one thing. Allowing unfettered access to weapons is another. Parents need to be held responsible for the actions of their children and the access allowed to weapons.
I don’t expect for you to post this comment, but I have for a very long time not understood how the 2nd Amendment can be so mis-represented. While I know you know it, it states, “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.” Am I the only American citizen who questions how the Supreme Court could have completely erased the first two sections of this Amendment? “A well regulated Militia” and “the security of a free State” as quoted were written in 1791 when the United States was a fledgling democracy and didn’t have the means to arm their military. So, let’s put that responsibility on the citizens, so the next time we go to war (1812) the men fighting will be properly armed (with their single-shot weapons).
I question the logic of those who are stating, very recently, that we have to look to the intent of the framers of the Constitution to determine current law (i.e., since abortion wasn’t in the Constitution, it has to be up to the States to control), but those same people will gloss over the intent of the framers with regard to the 2nd Amendment.
For the record: I grew up around guns, know how to use a gun, etc. I do not believe that I, as an individual citizen, should have the RIGHT to own an AR-15 or any other automatic weapon that the framers couldn’t have guessed would be real. That should not be a right, but if States want to allow them, so be it. Let the legislators at the State level bear that responsibility.
Babies are killing babies because grown adults can’t get their sh*t together.
I completely agree. And in the words of conservative Chief Justice Warren Burger: “The Gun Lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American People by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”
Thank you for posting this Judy
Amen.
It’s probably too soon to ask this, so please do not post it if it detracts from the posts so far. Has anyone tried using Second Amendment rights to defend possession of other weapons available around 1776 – say cutlasses, pikes and pitchforks?
I am curious about the case law.