Reflect with me for a moment. We knew the children who were shot and killed in Nashville. And the adults. They are our neighbors.
We have seen 9-year-old children gleefully following their parents at school events or walking down the aisle in church or on the playground. And we know those late career professionals who have dedicated their lives to education. They are all a part of our community.
They all became targets of a deranged mind. While those in charge look for motives, we know warped minds don’t lend themselves to understandable motives. But what we do understand is the reckless availability of guns first designed for military use. Guns that in seconds can cause a school corridor to look like a battlefield.
Almost two years ago to this date I wrote a column on guns. Enumerable times since, I have started to put pen to paper on the issue of how we deal with guns but each time pulled back. It is not an easy subject. But I am drawn to the flame.
Let me begin illustratively with technology. It has increased gun lethality but it has not been used widely to increase protection. Biometric keys, passwords and the like personalize and protect our homes, cars, phones and more. Protective technology’s use in manufacturing and retrofitting of guns should become as ubiquitous.
But then there is the larger problem. Can citizens act or must all the action be shunted off to politicians who will engage once again in the theater of the absurd? And much of the political activity will occur on a State-by-State basis and the problem is national.
Any steps of consequence will not be taken swiftly and actions that lessen problems in the long run will not sate our immeasurable desire for quick results. So why not go long as I have suggested before. We need a nationwide campaign to amend the Second Amendment.
Women’s rights, for example, received a huge boost from a nationwide effort to add an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment failed but the drive made women’s rights topical and constructive actions followed. And, for those of us who were watching our draft status during the Vietnam War, we know that the momentum of the anti-war movement hurried our troops return.
Additions to the Constitution are difficult. If the Second Amendment is to be amended, the addition should be simple, clear, limited and broadly appealing. My suggestion, a second sentence that says: The possession and use of military weapons and their derivatives can be regulated.
Today there are many efforts to regulate gun possession but often gun ownership or use that doesn’t need to be regulated gets swept up in our zeal to regulate military-style weapons. A successful drive will recognize our nation’s history with guns used for lawful purposes.
It is beyond this brief essay to detail either constitutional or legal language to lessen the threat from guns being used by deranged or vengeful minds. We have, however, come to a point where the nationwide outrage should push lawmakers beyond their well-practiced talking points.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
William Dalton says
Never will be able to amend the Constitution in the way you suggest. The way to limit gun rights is to change the Supreme Court the same way the Republicans changed the right of a woman to control her own body. The underlying problem with gun control is the legal interpretation given to the 2nd amendment by Justice Scalia. The 2nd amendment refers to gun ownership as then known (read original meaning) for members of the militia. It just takes 5 to return sanity to our country. We have 3.
Dorie McGuiness says
Al,
Thank you for a thoughtful article. Outlining a path forward that will alleviate the horror that our children and country face is critical. If an amendment to the Second Amendment is possible to counter the ability of sick and deranged individuals to freely purchase weapons of war, our representatives need to embrace this idea. The chart in your article says it all!
Reed Fawell 3 says
Guns have been around for hundreds of years. Mass murder school shootings in American have been around for a little more than two decades, and they are growing in number, violence, and death. Why? And why the obsessive for on gun control? Does this tactic hide the real problems underlying the violence? Scapegoating such as this is the favored tactic of leaders and followers in a decaying, corrupting cultures.
Deirdre LaMotte says
When people had guns and the NRA was about gun safety, when holding a weapon of war
was for only those in the military, of course there was not the level of gun violence. That changed
years ago. It is not only insulting that you remark is so obtuse, but to feign ignorance that the prevalence of weapons
for war are literally tearing apart the bodies of children. More guns mean more dead children, church goers, shoppers; everyone in this nation is effected by the distorted gun culture in this country.
When someone you love is shot dead, perhaps you will be “obsessive” for gun control. Or is that just the price our society pays so we can all play Marine infantry officers? How sick.
What is quite sad is your lack of caring now.