May 30

THE RIGHT TO DUCK AND COVER SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED

‘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.’

Who could have predicted back in 1791 that twenty-seven simple words would create such disunity two-hundred years later? Largely ignored throughout most of history, as state militias or National Guard organizations were merged into the national defense apparatus, our Second Amendment to the Constitution was thrust into prominence by lawsuits attacking laws that attempted to regulate gun ownership – the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Modern day Supreme Court decisions altered and redefined our attitudes regarding ‘the Second’, aided by the National Rifle Association and its campaign contributions to sympathetic politicians. 

Consequently, we now have ‘An upwelling, unregulated, surreptitious militia, being necessary to the security of a free State of mind, the right of the people, regardless of age, mental stability, political leanings, religion, racist inclinations, and drug history, to keep and bear Arms, whether small caliber handguns, a plethora of long guns and semi-automatic rifles, rocket launchers, drones, BearCat armored vehicles, or hand grenades, shall not be infringed.’ Thank you, CEO Wayne LaPierre, of the N.R.A. for spewing, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.”, or how about, “…a bad guy with an AR-15,…good guy with an AR-15.” How many good guys in white western-style hats were standing around, or fighting off concerned parents, at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas last week as a gunman (with TWO AR-15s) inside a classroom was blowing away their children? They should be reissued black hats at the very least, and in particular the officers who DID run into the building only to rescue their own children…but perhaps the Justice Department has a better solution. 

The argument that a broadly armed citizenry, could serve as a deterrent to violence, has only resulted in gun-homicide rates being eleven percent higher in permissive-carry states, than in states having stricter laws, with the probability of mass shootings raised by fifty-three percent in states with high gun ownership. Former president Trump, speaking to the assembled N.R.A. faithful on Friday, said we have to arm more citizens for their safety – when numbers of guns in the U.S. already outnumber the population count? So, once again we are observing the new American springtime ritual of student funerals instead of student graduations. ‘American exceptionalism,’-  as British Sky News reporter, Mark Stone, presented it to Senator Ted Cruz, in asking why mass shootings happen “only in America.” Cruz fumbled around as he accused the reporter of having a political agenda, refusing to comment on Stone’s attempt to understand why the senator denies that guns are the problem. “Stop being a propagandist!,” Cruz said, as he retreated from the scene. 

Later, the senator said, “I get tired of all the politicking. It happens every time there is a mass shooting.” Every time, Ted? EVERY TIME? Does that mean you, and every American, has to now accept that these tragic events can be expected, and that we have to deal with the aftermath simply because our entrenched, out-of-control Supreme Court has ruled that innocents must die? With the N.R.A. lobbyists and money pressing upon the GOP heavyweights to ward off the narrowest restrictions on guns, its clout has been diminished monetarily by a legal battle with New York state as the attorney general attempts to put them out of business due to corruption at the highest levels, a la LaPierre’s lavish spending. Last year the N.R.A. attempted to file bankruptcy and move out of the state, but was rebuffed by a judge who said the filing was “not in good faith,” and was mainly to escape regulatory oversight by the state of New York. 

Yet the organization maintains its hold on the GOP through fear, and its promise of rewards. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah tops the senatorial N.R.A. contribution list at $13M+, followed primarily by southern-state senators, with Ted Cruz at number 22 showing ONLY $176,274 in contributions, a figure he can expect to zoom up on the charts after his weekend appearance at the annual N.R.A. conference in Houston. A total of 42 senators appear on Newsweek’s list, the lowest contribution being $13,255 for Kevin Cramer of North Dakota…none of the contacted individuals cared to comment. 

The foreign press was in disbelief that once again a school massacre in America was dominating the headlines, with France’s Le Monde saying, “If there is any American exceptionalism, it is to tolerate the fact that schools in the U.S. are regularly transformed into bloody shooting ranges. America is killing itself, and the Republican Party is looking the other way, ideologically complicit in one tragedy after another.” Italian newspaper, la Repubblica, says the U.S. is facing “a nihilistic drift.” Spain’s El Pais printed, “The U.S. exudes political impotence in the face of a new school massacre.” UK’s Guardian opined the obvious with, “Tighter gun laws in America are much needed but near impossible to achieve…Texas deaths were not unthinkable. Inaction, in the face of them, must be. The Republican grip on the country’s institutions, skewing the executive, the legislature and the judiciary rightward is one reason for the continued violence.” And, the Gulf News, an English-language newspaper published in the UAR asks simply, “How many children must die before America takes action on guns?” 

El Pais goes on to say, “It shouldn’t take emotional speeches, constitutional debates or analyses of mental health problems or drug addiction to know why this atrocity has returned to the country…the bottom line is free access to firearms in the U.S.” How can one be a ‘pro-life anti-abortionist’, while supporting laws that let children be shot in the classroom, elders in grocery stores, the religious in their houses of worship, or concert attendees, or anywhere crowds may gather? It is a glorification of violence and the tools of war that sanction it. The N.R.A. maintains it is a mental health screening problem that must be dealt with, a phrase readily parroted by the group’s advocates; yet, Texas Governor Abbott, in his first news conference after the massacre, said the shooter had no background record of mental health issues – so how, Guv’ner, does your solution then stop another guy like this one? A report on gun violence by the American Psychology Association says that firearm-related homicides by those with mental health issues equate to one-tenth of one per cent of those on record. So, the Texas governor would prefer that you forget his reduction by $210 million this year in the funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, and that his state ranks dead last – numero cincuenta – in access to mental health care. In 2019, a white-nationalist mass shooting in El Paso resulted in twenty deaths, which must have spurred Abbott in June of 2021 to expand gun rights with seven measures, one of which allows Texans to carry a handgun without a background check, training, or a license/permit. Seems a bit off-kilter, huh?

When President Clinton banned assault rifles in 1994, mass shootings dropped by 43%; after Republicans let the ban expire in 2004, shootings increased by 243%. The state of California had an assault weapons ban for over thirty years, but in June a conservative judge struck it down; it was later reinstated by the Ninth Circuit Court. The state currently allows private citizens to sue untraceable ‘ghost gun’ manufacturers, or those who sell assault weapons banned by California, for up to $10,000 in private litigation. The law is bound to be challenged, so let’s see if it stands under the current court atmosphere. Gun violence can be curtailed by restricting access – it’s been proven here, if for only a brief period, but other countries can vouch for its effectiveness. An investigation was launched this week in Sacramento, where a second grader had stashed a pistol with a loaded magazine in a classroom desk, tragedy likely averted when fellow-students alerted staff – access? Nah, nothing to see here, folks!

The Trump and Cruz comedy team performing at the N.R.A. bloodfest called for ‘hardening our schools’ – locked doors, or just one door, bullet proof glass, presence of armed police or trained military veterans, putting weapons into the hands of teachers and administrators – all to defend children who are endangered by the very advocacy and campaign bribes of the N.R.A. itself. Perhaps schools should take on the attributes of San Quentin Prison, with guard towers at the perimeter, razor wire topped walls, and roaming Dobermann Pinschers. That canary yellow Brink’s truck entering the steel gates? That would be the new norm for school buses… with armored car escorts outfitted with mine sweepers to boot. 

Retired Supreme Court Justice, John Paul Stevens, in 2018, a year before his death at age 99, remarked after the school massacre in Parkland, FL, that the protesters should, “Demand a repeal of the Second Amendment…a relic of the 18th century.” Of course, no chance of that happening with a required two-thirds majority vote in the houses of Congress, followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states to repeal. Walter Shapiro, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and political science lecturer at Yale, writes, “…the hard truth is that the core problem is the Second Amendment itself…America is going to reel from one mass murder to another unless the Second Amendment is repealed or Supreme Court drastically reduces its scope.” Justice Stevens, in his 2014 book, ‘Six Amendments:…’ suggested adding five words to the amendment: ‘A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of the free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the Militia shall not be infringed.’ 

Sounds halfway rational and acceptable. But until the Republicans, the N.R.A. and the Supreme Court complete their mental screening, just have the kids learn to duck and cover, okay?