How Do We Balance Gun Rights and Public Safety?

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

No gun laws imaginable will keep our children perfectly safe. Some gun regulation would make a meaningful contribution.

What measures have greatest promise of promoting safety? Can we implement them without compromising legitimate gun ownership?

America has a long tradition of supporting firearms prior to the Second Amendment, which reads, "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."

What is a militia? Webster's broadly states, "any army composed of citizens rather than professional soldiers, called up in time of emergency." Also, "any of various disaffected groups of citizens that are organized as to resemble an army and that oppose the authority of the federal government."

The relevant history? From Wikipedia:

"The obligation to serve in the militia in England derives from a common law tradition, and dates back to Anglo-Saxon times ... that all able-bodied males were liable to be called out to serve in one of two organizations, the posse comitatus and the fyrd, a military body intended to preserve internal order or defend the locality against an invader. The latter developed into the militia and was usually embodied by a royal warrant.

"Every parish furnished a quota of eligible men, whose names were recorded on muster rolls. ... Each household was assessed for the purpose of finding weapons, armor, horses, or their financial equivalent. The trained bands performed an important role in the English Civil War on the side of Parliament."

America began as frontier colonies, far from the mother country. Protection in times of emergency, mostly from external threats but also from domestic insurrection, in the absence of an army or police force, depended upon the mobilization of ordinary citizens.

In the American Revolution, militias played a vital role in overthrowing the tyranny of the British Crown. Later, the state of Massachusetts raised a militia to put down Shay's Rebellion.

The U.S. Constitution provides for federal regulation of the militia. Prompted by Gen. St. Clair's defeat in battle with American Indians, Congress passed the Militia Acts of 1792, giving the president, according to Wikipedia, the "authority to call out the militias of the several states ... whenever the United States shall be in imminent danger of invasion ... whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed by combinations too powerful to be suppressed."

The latter was intended to thwart future Shay's Rebellions. It was soon used by President Washington to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion against taxes on distilled spirits.

The militia, at the time of the Second Amendment, was used for common defense of the frontier and suppression of domestic insurrection. Having just established a representative government with internal checks and balances, only a minority of our Founders would have felt the need for the additional check of an armed citizenry ready to violently oppose the authority of a regularly elected popular government.

The militia has since become obsolete. The U.S. military provides national defense. The National Guard backstops police in maintaining domestic order.

What justifications of arms remains?

- Self-defense. Police cannot be everywhere at all times.

- Hunting, for food and recreation.

Only with complete collapse of government would self-defense revert to the status of open frontier. Even the most deadly firearms would be an insignificant check against tyranny. We have police, National Guard and the U.S. military. All of them are unlikely to collude in tyranny. They operate as a check on each other.

Personally, except for hunting rifles, I would prefer that firearms be reserved for professionals who protect and serve. However, I live in a country where that is not the opinion of the vast majority and likely will never be so. I respect the Constitution and the right of my fellow citizens to bear arms.

Even our most basic right, the right to vote, requires registration so that there can be an orderly process. Unlike firearms, voting has caused few violent deaths.

It is reasonable to require registration of firearms, holding the owner responsible for the safety, proper use and transfer of his property.

Just as we do with ownership of automobiles. It is also reasonable to regulate the number of cartridges per clip, making more frequent reloading necessary. Finally, it might be a good idea to put metal detectors at schools and other public spaces where our young and vulnerable assemble.

Tom Goergen lives in Aberdeen. Contact him at tgoergen@nc.rr.com.

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Devout_Heretic 2 months, 2 weeks ago

" ... the right to vote, requires registration..."

Ok, following that we will need to register everyone to qualify for the "right to free speech" or the right to "not testify against ones self", etc.

The problem is not guns. The problem is people. People who have had it ingrained in themselves since birth that they are "entitled". They are entitled to not work, not be responsible for their own actions, entitled to enslave the medical profession so that they may have free medical care, etc. The list goes on and on.

Until that problem is addressed, situations like Sandy Hook and Aurora will continue.

JimRussell44 2 months, 2 weeks ago

"The problem is not guns." Absolutely correct!!! The problem is people with guns. People who have been ingrained in themselves since birth that they are "entitled" to have firearms of any description and in any, unregulated quantity. People who demand the "right" but shun the "responsibility" of gun ownership. The big fear with gun owners is, if guns are banned, only criminals will have guns. How do criminals currently get guns? They buy them because we don't have a good system in place to prevent them from buying guns. They steal them because gun owners are not responsible enough to secure them from theft. The NRA and most gun owners are opposed to having a very tough gun registration law because they fear their own government more than they fear criminals buying guns that are unregistered. The NRA and most gun owners claim they are all responsible individuals who follow all the rules in the use and storage of firearms, yet every single day in any newspaper in this country, you can read police reports of guns being stolen from legitimate gun owners. The solution to the problem lies in the hands of legitimate gun owners. When they are willing to admit that their request for unfettered freedom of gun ownership is part of the problem, that they will have to be the ones to agree to stiff gun registration rules and show more responsibility as gun owners, then we'll start seeing the gun deaths go down. And those same gun owners need to pull people like "Devote_Heretic" aside and explain to him that unemployed people in need of medical services are, for the most part, not to blame for mass killings. Dragging the unemployment and health care issues into a gun control discussion shows just how dumb some people commenting here can be.

Smallville 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Listen, I Hunt but it's got to the point it is not a sport when you need a assault weapon. Now anyone who wants to have a challenge and think they are some great hunter let them try building a bow and arrow instead of buying all this high-powered equipment. I bet 10 to 1 they'll start whining that it's too hard. Challenge yourself cause before the next day anyone of you will give up because it's too hard. I bet none of the Gun Owners could do as their ancestors did before guns was invented.

Courseaire 2 months, 2 weeks ago

I bought a '88 Dodge van four years ago and I've bagged my limit of deer every year since.

skylinefirepest 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Smallville...wrong!!! I was talking to a fellow fireman this morning that was talking about hunting 3-400 pound feral hogs with a bow and arrow.

Spocks_Brain 2 months, 2 weeks ago

The government uses the general welfare clause to justify a million different things, and the 2nd amendment uses a modifier 'shall not be infringed' therefore that is the law. Sorry

dentman65 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Courseaire - I have a sign in my bodyshop that reads" SEE YA NEXT DEER." Everyone gets a good laugh out of it.

Themis 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Skyline - I have heard those hogs will turn and attack and can kill you very easily. Is that true? I am not a hunter, but I am a multi gun owner and I love to shoot skeet and trapp.

skylinefirepest 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Themis...no personal knowledge but that is what I've been told for several years. And the hogs are destroying crops and even doing extensive damage up at the Blue Ridge Parkway. They are apparently all over N.C. now, just like the coyotes. And it's legal to hunt them at night.

skylinefirepest 2 months, 2 weeks ago

JimR....the criminals got guns recently because the Obummer administration gave them to them!! And now cover it up by Presidential order! How's that for how the criminals get guns?? And you put it at the feet of the legitimate gun owners BUT....let's say my house is locked, and my guns and jewelry and a few dollars of spare cash are in my locked house and a criminal breaks in and grabs my gun....well, it WAS locked up!! You'll not keep the criminals from getting weapons by holding law abiding people responsible. They keep getting drugs don't they?? Guns are used many, many more times to prevent crime than are used in crime but you guys don't want to take that into consideration. And you, my friend, have gotten hung up on finger twitches, dis-regarding the fact that semi-auto firearms have been around for well over a hundred years. And then you holler about the government not being interested in coming into our homes and taking our firearms BUT...it happened by armed law enforcement and National Guard troops just recently!!! Remember when and where, Jim??? Taken from law abiding citizens of America at gunpoint!!! By the government that I don't trust but you do.

nothingspecial 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Courseaire, you are a scholar and a hero! Thanks for always reminding us that it is not necessary to get too wrapped around the axle in this comments section!!!!