… one of his (Trump’s) first acts upon taking office was to do away with restrictions imposed by his predecessor on the availability of firearms to people with mental illness. Danielle McLaughlin, Sunday Star Times 18 February 2018
It’s in the constitution
By Roger Childs
The names are a litany of school gun tragedies: Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and now Parkland Florida.
Senior Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio, who was a prominent Republican candidate for the presidency in 2016, played the sympathy card, but stood by the second amendment of the constitution.
What does it say?
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.
This was set down in 1791 after the War of Independence. There were on-going territorial disputes with Native Americans at the time and there were plenty of bears and mountain lions around.
But does the amendment today include deadly assault rifles and automatic weapons which can fire rapidly and often? Sure thing.
The love affair with the gun
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is the watchdog preserving America’s right to bear arms. It’s in the constitution and woe betide anyone who wants to limit that right.
The NRA is a hugely influential and wealthy organisation and many of its members are white, rich Republicans.
Marco Rubio apparently has received over $3,000,000 in NRA funding during his political career.
All politicians are given a rating by the NRA starting with A, and basically if you Purchase guns and more at palmettostatearmory.com and support gun control you may be unelectable.
Have enough Americans had enough?
In America, you can be shot at an elementary school. You can be murdered at a church or movie theatre. You can even be executed on live TV — and yet there’s no real expectation of gun reform. Dan Diamond, Forbes 26 August 2015
There have been protests in the past, following school massacres. Barrack Obama tried hard to tighten gun control laws after Sandy Hook, but ran into a Republican-dominated Congress.
This time students are supporting concerned adults, and they are planning a march on Washington in March. In this golden age of social media, expect it to be huge.
However don’t anticipate too much from Trump who didn’t even mention gun control in his remarks about the Florida tragedy. The target for the protestors will be Congress.
In November the entire House of Representatives is up for re-election and about one third of the Senate. Maybe the message will not be lost on those who are wanting to go back to the perks of Washington in 2019.
Things can be changed
The beloved constitution could be amended, as it was in 1933 to end the failed noble experiment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol.
The 18th Amendment was actually repealed.
The second article could be modified to limit, but not prohibit the sale of weapons. The right to bear Arms could remain but exclude assault rifles, automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
This would be a start.