"The Arguments of Pro-Gun People" - A Dose of Buckley

The United States has experienced its worst mass shooting ever. Close to a year ago, Adam Buckley from "A Dose of Buckley" made a generic video about gun control:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bm5sDfaqSU

It's worth a watch.

Executive actions on firearms

Frustrated by Congress' constant inaction on cracking down on gun violence, President Barack Obama has taken matters into his own hands and issued executive orders:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35236630

In response, self-described "supporters of the 2nd Amendment" and Republican candidates for president have opposed his actions, saying that they are "unconstitutional" and should be repealed; however, a look at what the actions contain shows that the 2nd Amendment is not under threat, despite what a vocal minority seems to think. Here are some of the provisions:

"Background checks for all gun sellers, overturning current exemptions to some online and gun show sellers"

This seems entirely reasonable and in line with what the public wants. A Pew Research Center poll from last August found that 85% of Americans, including 79% of Republicans, support greater background checks for weapon sales.

"Increased workforce for the FBI to process background checks, hiring more than 230 new examiners"

This means that any backlogs relating to gun backgrounds checks will be cleared more quickly because of the increased staff. Theoretically, people waiting to buy a gun might be able to purchase them quicker.

"Congress being asked to invest $500m (£339m) to improve access to mental healthcare in the US"

The aforementioned poll notes that Americans support limiting weapon sales to mentally ill people; in addition, many of those against gun control measures are also in favor of such a limit. Asking Congress to improve mental healthcare seems like positive step to make; I don't see why anyone would be against this.

At any rate, no president can unilaterally nullify an amendment; it requires the states themselves and Congress to perform such an action. Firearms are not being banned - if President Obama really were the "dictator" his opponents make him out to be, he would already have banned them by now. He wouldn't be bothering with executive orders that are short-term fixes.

It is entirely possible to be pro-2nd Amendment while also supporting measures to exercise caution during gun sales. For example, the poll notes that 79% of Republicans support stronger background checks; this is significant because Republicans are generally more hostile to gun control than Democrats. From personal experience, most of the gun owners I knew in the United States supported background checks on the sales and were distrusting of buying weapons from unofficial venues.

Finally, regarding any such actions or legislation pertaining to firearms sales being "unconstitutional", it should be noted that at least three amendments (the 15th, 19th and the 26th, in particular) all defend voting rights. Using consistent reasoning, any restriction on voting rights is also unconstitutional and any state with voter ID laws or other methods to limit voting is going against the Constitution.

The third Tuscon anniversary

It's hard to believe that it's been three years to the date that the Tuscon shooting took place, when nineteen people, including Arizona House Representative Gabrielle Giffords, were shot. Six people died and Giffords barely survived a shot to her head, a shot that, to this day, gives her suffering.

What has been done to prevent a tragedy like the one in Arizona from happening again? Nothing, it seems. Despite the vast majority of Americans and National Rifle Association members supporting greater background checks on guns (when my family and I were living in the United States, the Democrats, Republicans and Independents we met all supported them, too, and we lived in an area where almost everybody owned a gun), a bill that would have increased said checks failed in the Senate. In addition, despite all the calls that were made to help address mental health problems, nothing has been done about that, either.

It's a shame that paranoia over a potential repeal of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is preventing anything from being done, even something as simple as educating people about violence or increasing awareness of mental health problems. I don't think that Second Amendment supporters even have anything to fear, for few American politicians, if any, would ever vote for an outright ban on guns. The Second Amendment itself will not get repealed anytime in the near or foreseeable future: To introduce a new amendment with the purpose of repealing another, the state legislatures of three-quarters of the states would need to approve it...and that's just not going to happen against the Second Amendment.

I once again made the mistake of reading the comments section of a Tuscon shooting-related article. I had foolishly hoped that people would perhaps pay their respects to all the victims and their families, given that it's been three years since the shooting, but instead it was a hate-filled thread with nothing but anger being directed at Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. I found it both infuriating and upsetting.

Sandy Hook Elementay School shooting

As I write this, reports are pouring in over the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Current reports are that 27 people have died, with the majority of them being children. Several shootings have taken place in the United States in the past couple of weeks, and a countless amount over the course of 2012.

In Southern Oregon I lived alongside several neighbors who were armed; I was accepting of them and not at all afraid nor bothered by their presence. However, I do think that something really needs to be done to address all these shootings that have happened recently. I doubt that the 2nd Amendment will ever be overturned - and I also doubt that anyone is really advocating that - but that doesn't stop the enactment of stronger safeguards on who can own weapons and teaching people responsible gun ownership/use. This won't fix the problem, but it'll help to reduce it.

Already I've been seeing people address the shooting by saying "this isn't the time to talk about gun control!". This is not a helpful response to such a tragic event, and it's sad that some people would rather provide a knee-jerk defense of guns before anyone has even suggested the tiniest amount of gun control than think of the victims and their families. It's reckoned that at least 18 children have died! How can anyone dismiss the deaths of children so easily?

I'm thinking of the victims and their families. I hope we won't see the casualty count increase over time.