Recently, I had occasion to be reminded that the individual's right to bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment separate and apart from the bearing of arms in a well regulated militia. An accurate reflection of the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. That does not change this reality: the "craziness" in the Gun Culture is afforded by the rest of us in society.
Like many human freedoms, limitation on the federal and state government exercise of power over individuals (and groups) is inherent (known as the requirement of substantive due process to deprive a person of liberty or freedom to do as they please).
If anyone thinks a criminal conspiracy can not result when you hand a gun to one contemplating the commission of a crime, think again. If you have together planned all or or even a small part of a crime, it takes one action in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy and you can be convicted of criminal conspiracy even if the contemplated crime never took place.
The focus of "well regulated militia" in the language of Second Amendment is I believe operative in situations in which individuals want to have private armies. Obviously, no state will stand its sovereignty being challenged by a private army.
And likewise no citizen of a state should be free of conviction of treason upon testimony of two witnesses for participating in a private army that plans the violent overthrow of the government of the state (this includes violent refusal to submit to arrest and detention by law enforcement).
The convergence of the Second Amendment, criminal conspiracy, and state sovereignty results in tragedy for the likes of Gordon Kahl of posse commitatus fame, John Brown of abolitionist era, and the likes of religious cults such as the one near Waco, Texas, during the Clinton Presidency.
The Ku Klux Klan white supremacists era strongly recommends and suggests that no government can fail to infiltrate such organizations with informers and agents.
The debate in Congress is serious because the gun lobby and munitions industry has so much at stake that their profits are placed ahead of disarming and quieting the crazies. God help us all.
The NRA wants to wash its hands of the Newtown massacre of twenty kindergarten children and the adults who would lay their lives down for their role as educators. This the NRA can not do.
Chris Wallace may score points with the NRA in ways which attempt to embarrass the naysayers of unregulated gun sales, but he of the media can not white wash the self-inflicted damage of the NRA which forwards the culture of the firearm. He does so at his own peril and professional reputation and at the expense of enhancement of domestic abuse success and prevalence and the conduct of the criminally insane with access to weapons and ammo (and kill capacity of a Lt. Calley at My Lai).
Chris Wallace should be wary of furthering an agenda that enhances the presence of guns in our movie theaters, our churches, our schools, and our byways, and yes, our homes and private lives. This is a civilization that must afford a way forward predicated on self-control and effective remediation and regulation of anyone who will not abide the law (which includes taxation to afford gun control enforcement). If the sub-machine gun is outlawed, then there is no bar to outlawing the assault rifle or any gun capacity that provides the same kill capacity.
It's idiocy to argue that rapid fire weapons are for sport. Please! You shame the word hunt and the word sport. You are a sick killer, and I for one have no stomach for your bloodletting as an end in itself. That's psychotic and you know it! We are stewards of the land, water, and wildlife, and yes we do limit animal populations that might otherwise starve, and I'm not talking about the legal taking of game for food consumption either.
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