Brian Bilston wrote this durable poem in 2016:
“America Is A Gun
England is a cup of tea.
France, a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is a gun.
Brazil is football on the sand.
Argentina, Maradona’s hand.
Germany, an oompah band.
America is a gun.
Holland is a wooden shoe.
Hungary, a goulash stew.
Australia, a kangaroo.
America is a gun.
Japan is a thermal spring.
Scotland is a highland fling.
Oh, better to be anything
than America as a gun.”
Michael Moore said it last week on national television – repeal the second amendment!
Gun nuts reacted in predictable fashion. But now the mustard seed has been planted.
We know the Answer
There’s nothing to debate here, every sane person knows what to do. When Australia had a mass shooting (35 dead) at picturesque Port Arthur in 1996, the Federal government took immediate action and brought in very strict gun control measures.
Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since.
And despite gun lobby propaganda, Aussies can still own firearms, such as rifles and shotguns, but they require a licence and registration. America does nothing after mass shootings, and keeps having them.
A mass shooting is defined as any incident in which 4 or more people (excluding the gunman) are killed in a single shooting spree.
Other nations to ban assault weapons include the UK, Norway, New Zealand and the entire European Union (28 countries).
Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, Mass shootings have become a DAILY occurrence in American life, with only the major ones becoming headline news. These include, Las Vegas in 2017 (60 killed), the Pulse Nightclub in 2016 (49 killed), Virginia Tech in 2007 (32 killed), Sandy Hook Elementary school in 2012 (27 killed) and now Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas (21 killed).
A remnant from Revolutionary days
When founding father and future US President, James Madison, wrote the 2nd amendment in 1791, the United States of America was a small nation of 13 former British colonies on the Atlantic coast.
The armed citizenry culture comes from a time prior to the revolution when the US had neither the will nor the resources to maintain a national army. Citizens were dependent on arms to protect themselves from hostile native tribes, foreign soldiers, local uprisings, and the many other hazards of frontier living.
Yet, as early as the 1790s, the mandatory universal militia duty gave way to voluntary militia units and a reliance on a regular army. Throughout the 19th century the institution of the civilian militia began to decline.
Non-Americans look at the current gun situation and opine that America hasn’t progressed since the days of the wild west, which is not actually true. For a start, the wild west wasn’t actually that wild. The image of the vengeful, gunslinging cowboy, shooting up the local saloon, is pure Hollywood.
In fact many Sheriff’s and Marshall’s in the old west forbade the concealed carry, and sometimes even the open carry of firearms, in their local townships. Quite often, the Sheriff would insist that anyone “passin thru” was to hand over their weapons to him. He would only return them when they were ready to leave.
Guns have always been featured in American life. However, the idolatry is only recent. In 1914, The state of New York passed the first stringent gun control laws, requiring licences and registrations.
In response to the gang violence of the Prohibition Era, the US Government passed the first national gun control law in 1934, banning assault weapons like the Tommy Gun – a favourite of Al Capone’s thugs.
This became known as the National Firearms Act (NFA), and it was followed in 1938 by the Federal Firearms Act (FFA).
Following the assassination of JFK, and the growing social unrest around civil rights and the Vietnam war, 1968 saw President Lyndon Johnson pass the most comprehensive gun control laws in American history.
The Enablers
We can’t talk about the gun culture in America without focusing on the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA was established in 1871 by two Civil War veterans who (during the war), were shocked at how incompetent the average citizen was when it came to handling their firearms.
The NRA was formed as a sporting and gun safety organisation. Whilst privately ambivalent, they were always publicly supportive of sensible gun laws. Several leaders of the NRA didn’t even own a gun.
Former Olympic marksman, Karl Frederick, who was NRA president in 1934, testified during congressional NFA hearings that “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I seldom carry one…I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns…I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”
Four years later, the NRA backed the Federal Firearms Act of 1938. The NRA also supported the NFA along with President Johnson’s Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA).
Together, these laws created a system to federally license gun dealers. It also established restrictions on particular categories and classes of firearms.
What Changed?
The social revolutions of the 1960’s, were met with great hostility by conservative America. As a result, they would become far more engaged in civic life, and pushed many institutions further and further to the right.
These included places like politics, the courts, the Church and of course, the NRA.
It was at a meeting in Cincinnati in 1977, where the far right lunatics staged their revolt. They successfully took over this once benign organisation, and turned it into the horror show that it is today.
This move was lead by former border security officer, Hilton Carter. He would be the first NRA president without military experience.
Today, the NRA is completely in the grip of unhinged fear mongers. People who treat the 2nd Amendment like it’s the 2nd Commandment. Some of these cranks include lawyer and CEO Wayne LaPierre, musician Ted Nugent, commentator Dana Loesch, the notorious Donald Trump and the odious Ted Cruz.
The 2nd Amendment reads as follows:
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.
For 200 years, there was never any confusion about how to interpret this.
But the new gun lobby, lead by NRA lawyers, sought to change all that. They argued and that it wasn’t regulated militias that had the right to keep and bear arms, but ALL citizens.
In 2008, the Supreme Court agreed with them, which has made America’s unconscionably lax gun laws, even weaker!
For decades, the NRA has been cosying up to conservative politicians. In 1980, they partnered with one of the major parties for the first time, by endorsing Republican candidate Ronald Reagan for President.
Since then, they’ve spread their tentacles throughout Washington DC so extensively, that the entire Republican party is now beholden to this one lobby group.
Ammosexuals
Gun lovers, sarcastically known as ammo-sexuals, see firearm ownership as a civic duty. Disturbingly, this idea has become mixed with religion and patriotism. Gun ownership is seen as an American responsibility, ordained by God and the constitution, just like the right to vote.
They feel that the world around us is overloaded with harmful, satanic evil. Therefore, it requires decent, moral, heavily armed citizens, to protect us from such ungodly threats.
It’s interesting that this form of evil doesn’t seem to exist outside the USA. Nonetheless, we still have the NRA spewing out empty platitudes like “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”.
Of course, this is pure fantasy. Time after miserable time – like at the mall shooting in Buffalo – an armed citizen or security guard has not only failed to stop the gunman, they’ve ended up as one more dead body.
In Uvalde, Texas, even a heavily armed and militarised police force was unable to stop the shooter.
Life is not a Dirty Harry movie.
In addition, your chances of dying by suicide, or homicide (especially by a family member) are massively increased if you have a gun in the house. Very few shots fired in the home (about 2%) are directed at intruders.
According to the FBI, it’s more common for the intruder to take the gun away from the occupant, than it is for the occupant to bring down the intruder.
Everyone is entitled to defend themselves, but the situation in the US proves that handing out guns to anyone and everyone creates way more problems than it solves.
Owning a gun for self defence might sound good in theory, but in practice it simply doesn’t work. If you’re really worried about home security, get a big dog.
Where to now?
If the current law suits by the NRA are successful, it will make gun control legislation even harder to obtain (like it’s not already hard enough).
Depressingly, The majority of American citizens want gun control, but the will of the majority doesn’t seem to count anymore.
With such an antiquated political system, the Republicans continue to win elections with less votes, leaving Democrats with their hands tied.
But that can change. Just because something is mentioned in the constitution, doesn’t mean it can’t be regulated. For example, the 1st amendment – Freedom of speech is a right that is kept in check by defamation laws. Freedom of religion is another guaranteed right, but you can’t engage in human sacrifices.
Constitutions are not sacrosanct, every country has one. They can be changed or replaced at any time – you don’t need to be a prisoner to history.
In Conclusion
Republicans argue that abolishing the right to bear arms would be seen as taking freedoms away.
But what about the right to be free from getting shot? If your bullets hit my person, then you are trampling on my freedoms – my right to feel safe!
According to Ted Miller of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, the overall cost of all this gun violence in America is $557 Billion per year. That’s about $11.2 million per firearm death.
These figures include things like medical care, both physical and mental, time off work (which may be permanent), the law enforcement resources used, negative impact on property prices, etc.
Then there are the indirect costs, like quality of life. Since the 2nd amendment people are unmoved by the human cost, perhaps they’ll pay attention to the financial cost.
In another crazy development, more gun lobbyists have emerged recently, such as the Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR). These groups actually think that the NRA is not pro-gun enough!!
And Finally….
Following the massacre at Robb Elementary school, online newspaper ‘The Guardian’ bravely asked the question – should the rest of the world intervene to save Americans from themselves?
