Monday, July 24, 2006
About the Second Amendment
I like to listen to Ed Schultz on Air America AM radio. I agree with much of what he says. I disagree with some, particularly his take on the "right to bear arms." Ed comes from a rural area where hunting is a popular diversion in the fall and where there are wild animals that can be killed and eaten.
I grew up in an area like that of North Dakota where Ed comes from. People in Michigan liked to go deer hunting in the fall during the season. The season comes after harvest time, so the farmers have some spare time to enjoy themselves and get out in the fresh air and enjoy nature and all that. Michigan farmers get a bit uptight when someone proposes strict controls on guns.
I think (and some of you will disagree with me) that the Second Amendment was adopted during a time when it was very important for citizens of the new republic to own and use weapons for killing at a distance. Most of the new citizens lived in rural areas. New generations would head west to take up land recently "liberated" or taken from the Native Americans. These new settlers would need a weapon to defend themselves from angry Natives who wanted their lands back as well as to kill varmints like bears, wolves, and wolverines that threatened their lifestock.
By now we've nearly exterminated the varmints and have defeated and pacified the Natives. Ironically, the ratio of guns to people is now much greater than it was when the Second Amendment was adopted. Many of the people who own or use guns on a daily basis do not use them to shoot at bears, wolves, or Native Americans. They use them in our cities to intimidate and shoot at each other. Arguments that the right to own and use a gun should be constitutionally protected and completely unregulated by government do not convince me. In this I may disagree with Ed Schultz. Perhaps I should send him a friendly e-mail.
I grew up in an area like that of North Dakota where Ed comes from. People in Michigan liked to go deer hunting in the fall during the season. The season comes after harvest time, so the farmers have some spare time to enjoy themselves and get out in the fresh air and enjoy nature and all that. Michigan farmers get a bit uptight when someone proposes strict controls on guns.
I think (and some of you will disagree with me) that the Second Amendment was adopted during a time when it was very important for citizens of the new republic to own and use weapons for killing at a distance. Most of the new citizens lived in rural areas. New generations would head west to take up land recently "liberated" or taken from the Native Americans. These new settlers would need a weapon to defend themselves from angry Natives who wanted their lands back as well as to kill varmints like bears, wolves, and wolverines that threatened their lifestock.
By now we've nearly exterminated the varmints and have defeated and pacified the Natives. Ironically, the ratio of guns to people is now much greater than it was when the Second Amendment was adopted. Many of the people who own or use guns on a daily basis do not use them to shoot at bears, wolves, or Native Americans. They use them in our cities to intimidate and shoot at each other. Arguments that the right to own and use a gun should be constitutionally protected and completely unregulated by government do not convince me. In this I may disagree with Ed Schultz. Perhaps I should send him a friendly e-mail.
