UN-GUN AMERICA

I have written extensively on this blog about gun violence in America. It is epidemic and shameful. The spotlight is now on the killing of Black men and women by police; the majority of these killings are by gun. (There are also many Black persons wounded by police guns.)  We tend to attribute this horrific toll of human life to racism, and that is certainly a major factor. In this post, I want to talk about guns as a major factor.

Why do police officers carry guns? There is not a simple answer to that question. One answer is to protect themselves from armed criminals. Another likely reason is to look militaristic and convey fear among citizens as a control measure (this could be another post about the history of policing). 

Too often we see or hear about police officers killing someone and think that there was really no reason to use a gun in that situation. Of all the deaths by guns used by police, the alleged crime, if there actually was one, prompting the police action is not punishable by death. (In fact, 25 of the 50 States do not have the death penalty.) Too often recently, we've seen police with their guns out and pointed at someone who either has committed no crime, or perhaps is suspected of committing a crime that absolutely is not punishable by death, and is not doing anything threatening! How many Black men and women have been killed by police guns as they were running away, or sleeping in bed, or getting into their car, or just standing while black? So why do the cops have their guns out?

What if cops didn't have guns? What if they only carried a baton, handcuffs, and maybe a can of pepper spray? That's what cops in London carry, as described here.  OK, that works in England you are thinking, but it would never work here in the US of A. Correct, as pointed out in the quote below from the article linked above: 

Of course it's easier for police to remain unarmed if civilians do the same. Out of every 100 people in Britain, fewer than four of them owns a firearm, according to GunPolicy.org, a project run by Australia's University of Sydney. In the U.S. there is more than one gun per person.

The fact is that America is awash in guns; there are more guns in the hands/homes of people than people in this country. An official estimate is about 423 million firearms (about 1.2 per person in America), and many billions of rounds of ammunition (8.1 billion rounds were manufactured in 2019 alone). There are about 17.7 million assault-style rifles, or long guns (AR-15 and AK-47) in private ownership; this is the most popular gun in America.  (Put the word "guns" in the search field of your browser and you might be shocked at the number of places where you can purchase them online. But beware, you'll likely start getting ads about them!)

So why don't we un-gun America? "Good luck with that!!" is the reply I usually get when I ask this question. No politician would dare suggest we collect people's guns. Hey, Second Amendment, Freedom, My Rights!! Sure, it would not be easy, and it might start another Civil War - but guess what, we are already in a civil war...but that, too, is for a different post. 

Here's the deal. Right now there are about 274 million dangerous machines owned by people in America, but they are highly regulated. To own one of these, you must be old enough, register it with the state in which you live, be certified to operate it, get re-certified every so many years, have insurance covering any damage it causes to other people or their property, and operate it according to laws, upon penalty of fine or arrest. Yes, motor vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, mobile homes), very dangerous machines owned by Americans, are heavily regulated. In fact, the machines themselves must meet certain standards of safety, which change over time. 

So change the Second Amendment to say that you can own a firearm if you comply with the same kinds of rules and laws governing motor vehicles. Who could argue with that, in a rational way? In fact, surveys have repeatedly shown that the vast majority of gun owners favor more regulation. 

Here is the text of the Second Amendment:

 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. 

Makes a lot of sense, right? Wrong, it makes no sense at all in 2020. 

And here is the revised Second Amendment I proposed on this blog in 2013:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, shall be maintained by the federal government. The right of the people to keep and bear arms, under a well-regulated set of laws and rules to protect the health and welfare of the people, shall not be infringed.

What kind of society is so fixated on firearms that 40,000 people are killed by them every year, that school children are trained how to respond when a shooter enters their school, that a person can walk around with a military-style weapon and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in broad daylight, that over and over and over and over someone with one of these weapons commits mass murder, that thousands of people per year are killed by police with guns? What kind of society is that? Welcome to America.

Come on America. Let's do this. Un-gun Americans and un-gun police officers.* We could do it if we had the will to do so, and if the people we elect to public office grow a spine and make it happen. Make this part of the New American Revolution. 

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* Note: in England, there are special police units that carry weapons and are highly trained to use them for situations where they are warranted, such as terrorism. We could do the same here. And in America, private ownership of semi-automatic long guns (AR-15s and AK-47s) should be banned outright.