It’s Happening Again (Part 2)
Back in June I wrote a response to the social turmoil following the shooting of Christina Grimmie and the Pulse nightclub respectively. Both tragedies took place in Orlando within 48 hours of each other and both involved guns, albeit with a different number of casualties/motives. The first tragedy claimed the lives of two people, Voice star Christina Grimmie and shooter Kevin Loibl. The second tragedy took place almost two and a half miles away at Pulse as shooter Omar Mateen staged a massacre resulting in 49 deaths. His death at the hands of the Orlando SWAT team puts the actual death toll at 50, more than any mass shooting in recent history. In total that’s 52 people dead in the course of 48 hours, if you ask me that’s insane.
When I last wrote about these tragedies I said that people become complacent because they think these issues can’t affect them. Very few know that Omar Mateen legally obtained his weaponry despite being under terrorist suspicion or that Kevin Loibl had been diagnosed with a myriad of mental disorders. Our gun control system is broken, no other way of looking at it. Don’t say that it can’t happen to you,our system guarantees that it could. I’m still not okay with what’s going on and after thinking about it for a few months I figured I’d give my detailed plan. If my idea just gets one person’s attention and helps them realize what they can do to fix this problem, to make those deaths stand for something then it’ll be worth it for me.
For those of you who have guns and are using them legally or for your own protection I don’t hold anything against you. You have every right as an American citizen to own that firearm, it’s a right that’s detailed in the Constitution. Many people wave the Second Ammendment around like it’s scripture but let’s break down what it really says. “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,” says the Bill of Rights. To some of you out there this declaration might mean that you have the right to bear arms wherever and whenever you see fit to keep yourself safe. Technically you’d be right but let’s think of the Second Amendment’s context, when it was written. Ignoring the fact that the Founding Fathers could never have predicted the firearms of today remember that this was written right after America had declared independence. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and everyone else who founded this country knew they weren’t going to live forever. They knew that one day Great Britain could come back to reclaim what’s theirs and without a proper leader America would once again be under British rule.
The Second Amendment, in its most basic form, is a deterrent. An ace in the hole for the Founding Fathers so that when the British came back for round two all of the United States would be waiting at the state line armed to the teeth. As years went by and our country made new enemies the concept rang true; if you want to defend yourself from potential foreign invaders you should get a gun. This philosophy of a well-regulated militia grew to a breaking point after September 11 as every American in the country needed to keep themselves safe, gun or no gun. Sources such as the New York Times have shown that gun sales went up by nearly 21% following the World Trade Center attacks. Living in a post-9/11 world people were paranoid and felt that their guns could keep them safe. Fast-forward to 2016 and the issue has been split in two, there is no middle ground. Either you’re for the Second Amendment or you’re against it. To some the Second Amendment represents a barbaric way of thinking and is a sordid page of history that needs to be erased. On the other hand people believe it’s a symbol of American freedom.
What if there were a way to please both sides? What if there were a way to grant people their safety while simultaneously creating new jobs? You see, the Second Amendment isn’t outdated it just needs a new coat of paint. The “well-regulated militia” can still exist in the modern world if we can create the modern American militia. While that sounds a little hard to fathom just think about air marshals for a second. People deputized by the US government to enforce the law on an airplane; they’re not police, just regular citizens looking to do right by their country. They’re amazing at their job, most times you don’t even know that they’re on the plane. Why not have the exact same thing on the ground? Regular people deputized and employed by the government to go about their daily business and watch out for anything suspicious. If something suspicious does happen they’ll have the authority to stop the threat dead in its tracks. The people would have their well-regulated militia to keep them safe, average joes looking to make a difference, do the work police and military can’t.
“What if I want a gun myself?” you ask. Well, nothing would stop you there would just need to be a different way of obtaining one. Going back to Omar Mateen and Kevin Loibl, it’s obvious that neither of these men should have been able to buy a firearm. There needs to be a way for guns to be regulated without taking away the people’s rights, if there isn’t there will inevitably be more Omar Mateens, Kevin Loibls, and James Holmes’. I’ve spoken to people who have obtained gun licenses and the results range from the system being too thorough or not thorough at all. So I thought to myself how much do you need to do to get your driver’s license? Granted there’s a bit of a climb but it’s nothing too insurmountable as nearly everyone in the country does it. Why not apply that same principle to gun ownership? Open a gun DMV where anyone who currently owns a gun will have them inspected and put into a system, after a thorough background check and testing process you’ll be allowed to do whatever you want with your gun. Think for a second as to how many jobs that would create too, imagine ex-military and retired cops training you on how to properly use a gun. Future generations would take a gun safety course in high school, taught by an employee of this hypothetical gun DMV. Students would learn the intricacies of gun safety and learn how to properly care for their weapon. From there they’d have to take a written test, think the written driver’s ed test but for guns, and would obtain their learner’s permit. Permit holders would have to make an appointment at a local firing range with a “gun school” trainer to get their 6 hours in. A few months down the line and they’d have to take an in-field target practice test with an employee at the “Gun DMV” to obtain their license. Different licenses would have different tiers; think tier 1 for pistols and hunting rifles. By the logic of gun owners they mostly own guns to hunt for sport or to keep their families safe, a pistol or rifle should be more than sufficient. Tier 2 is for the more advanced weaponry, stuff like shotguns or automatic weapons. Tier 3 is the most advanced tier and you’d need to through a lot of red tape to get into it. This tier gives you permission to own the assault rifles, that AR-15s, the M16s, etc. Through this system it keeps dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people and allows the truly qualified to own this type of hardware.
Yes, it’s easy to say that gun regulation will inevitably lead to a criminal element entering the picture as assault weapons will become coveted items. However when you look at the facts there’s a massive problem with the system we have now if a suspected terrorist can walk into a gun shop and take 49 lives with something he obtained legally. As I said, the Second Amendment isn’t an outdated ideology nor is it a flawless American symbol. All we need to do is stop fighting and combine our thoughts together, only then will we see change. Personally, I want to feel safe again. I want to know that I can live my life without having to worry about a terrorist or psychopath taking my life or the lives of those dear to me. Even if you disagree with your neighbor make your voice heard, we live in a society where we can do that and we’ve seen change done because of it. There’s nothing worse than allowing this situation to fade into obscurity. I believe in a new Second Amendment and I believe in America. We can do better.
