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writing for godot

Muskets, Amendments and Push Me Pull You Legislation

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Written by Geri Lennon   
Wednesday, 11 December 2013 19:28



In the last 365 days the great legislative debate over gun control and gun rights rolls on while we
quietly wonder about potential massacres in other towns. The US Congress stalled and passed the buck down to the state legislatures for passage of any laws on either side of that very large fence. 1500 or so pieces of gun legislation were introduced into state legislatures. Sadly, only 10% were passed.
In some areas laws made it easier to carry concealed guns which other areas passed law to remove gun carry permits from public record. It's still a push me pull you of lobbying. A major change, that should have been obvious long before was passed in five Eastern states: the restriction of military style weapons. In the west, Colorado passed important gun control measures while gun activists play with recall elections in attempts to oust senators who booked gun control legislation.
$3Million was spent on gun control advocacy. 13Million was spent by gun rights lobbyists.
And still the potent concept of true profiling and psychological factors plays on deaf ears.

Lest we forget, shall we pause and remember? I remind us all of December 2012. I wrote this then and yes, some progress has been made but little compared to the enormous loss., When will we actually get it? Its time. I ask that we remember.

December 2012: This morning, on the Sunday after the school massacre on the East coast, the NRA and Republicans refused an invitation to attend a panel on Face the Nation.  It was an intriguing discussion which included the Sacred Cow, the second amendment. Besides their arrogance at not accepting the invitation to the panel, it was plain stupidity. The decent members of that “society” could have sat on a televised program and expressed national grief with the rest of us. It doesn't have a thing to do with the second amendment; but those that refused to attend want to keep it all rolling in a never ending discussion while more guns are sold and more fire arms are available on the internet.

One of the panel said a very intriguing thing. The First Amendment now has restrictions. One cannot yell "fire" in a theater without it being valid or he/she will be jailed. We also know one cannot joke in line in the airport regarding bombs and security.  So, perhaps, the sacred cow can be adjusted as well. Rules on who can buy guns and strict waiting periods are just starters.

The moderator brought up one of the elephants in the room: terrorist profiling. Had the shooter in Connecticut been an Arab, the entire situation would have taken a different focus.  Perhaps, it is time WHITE folks profile themselves. 

When the right to bear arms was written, George Washington and the rest of the Constitutionalists had muskets, single shot muskets, not Uzis and the rest of the lethal paraphernalia that are readily available on the internet and gun conventions. I still think that psychological profiling and restrictions on sales of automatic firearms is only part of the solution. The NRA can strut their arrogant stuff, and prattle on about the right to bear arms. Let's define arms. Assault rifles have no business being available anywhere. Gun control is one thing, freedom to bear arms is a totally different concept.

Let's address another elephant in a room somewhere: the diagnosis and treatment of kids with ADHD and/or depression. It is well known that antidepressant side effects can cause violence and suicide in teens and young adults. This completes the violence cocktail. A study of gun massacres in the last decade reveals that most of the shooters were on antidepressants or psychotropic drugs OR their files were sealed.

We are all in strong times, and I'd be preaching to the choir if I said, it is time to hold our kids and grand kids, and ourselves in the palm of a much LARGER HAND.

We are careening off a dangerous trolley in the name of amendment protection.

Face the Nation spent the last 2 min, in silence with images of the fallen kids and teachers. Will we all go numb one more time, and forget and get entrenched in Christmases of our own? I say, leave the flags at half mast for a month. JFK got a month, what about the little ones? Will we learn from this, or more important, take action: write op eds, letters to our congressmen, organize stand ups, or choose to not show up for a panel out of arrogance?

Muskets, Amendments and Push Me Pull You Legislation
Geri A. Lennon
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