America, Get Your Gun
Shots rang out at the nearby Jr. high school. The young man had finally found a release for his pent-up frustration and his anger. He decided to vent on his fellow classmates. The last shot he reserved for himself.
Where did he get the gun? Why did he unleash his wrath on unsuspecting kids? Who's responsible? This scenario could be Anytown, USA. In fact, it has been in many towns in the USA.
The root of the problem with guns and violence ( and I speak not just of gun violence in schools, but in homes as well), is a hot topic for debate around this country. And certainly, debate and discussion between children and adults is necessary, but the more things change, the more they seem to remain the same.
There is some very encouraging news just released by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga. And that is that gun deaths in this country fell during the mid-nineties (between 1993 and 1998), for the first time since the mid-sixties. Those statistics include unintentional, assaultive and intentionally self-inflicted deaths. Yet guns remain the second leading cause of injury-related deaths.
The source of the right to gun ownership is typically derived from the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which declares, " 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."
One intriguing thing about the Constitution is that the words say what they say, but it's critical that those words be interpreted to actually give them meaning. That's what those seven men and two women sitting on the nation's highest Court are charged with.
And on this particular subject, they have only spoken once. Pretty amazing, considering how old the Bill of Rights is. Nevertheless, in 1939 the Court addressed congressional action; legislation which required registration of firearms under the National Firearms Act. Specifically, it required registration of sawed-off shotguns (those are pretty much prohibited nowadays). The Court seemed to endorse a "states Rights" theory, whereby states are protected in their authority to maintain formal, organized Militia units, who of course carry weapons.
Another popular theory in this country is that of "Individual Rights." These persons feel that they are unequivocally and undeniably protected in "ownership, possession and transportation of handguns." And no one is authorized to take away that right.
While the Supreme Court has not definitively resolved this dispute, it is apparent that from what they have said, that they are not ready to declare an individual's absolute right to "bear arms." Instead, they see this "right" in the context of "state security."
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