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This is my insight into the gun violence problem that plagues the U.S. today. I hope it will spur introspection into why we have such a severe problem and thoughts on what to do about it.
Obviously, the problem stems from the Supreme Court’s decision that the Second Amendment protects the right of an individual to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense. In other words, the court has given all citizens who legally own a firearm the right to shoot someone if they feel threatened.
I believe this permission is referred to by politicians as “gun rights.” How has the exercise of gun rights worked in our society? Not very well, to put it mildly.
The reason for this is obvious. Daily life in any country involves a myriad of different types of citizen-to-citizen confrontations from the minor (e.g., parking space conflict) to the deadly (e.g., attempted murder). If a dangerous weapon intended for killing people is present during a confrontation, the chances of someone being shot or killed goes up dramatically. This is the situation that exists in America today and is the reason our gun homicide rate is so much higher than the rates in countries where the private ownership of people-killing weapons is banned or severely limited.
The Supreme Court should have been fully cognizant of this reality. Their action in creating a gun right for the American people from the Second Amendment unequivocally shows, in my opinion, that the court holds that the right to own a gun is more important than the natural right for a citizen to be free from gun violence.
The court is not alone in their apparent disregard for human life; most political leaders do nothing to protect their constituents from gun violence because they seemingly are afraid of losing votes. I believe that the Second Amendment’s usefulness for the country has long since passed with the replacement of state militias with national guards. It should be repealed and never again should we have a constitutional right to use deadly force against our fellow citizens.
George Elliott
Bangor