Commentary: Lock N’ Load
We don’t have Congressional representation or the ability to govern ourselves without invasive oversight, but we can now own a handgun.
What do you think, TNG? Mayor Fenty seems to think this act will put more guns in the hands of young men and increase overall crime. However, the supreme court decision on the gun ban has a queer twist – one of the plaintiffs in the orginal case was a gay man who once used a gun to protect himself from a gay bashing. Does overturning the ban benefit our community, or harm it?
Considering that I live in the Shaw gayborhood near the corner of crackhead and apocalypse, NW, I’m not sure what to think. Part of me is curious about the pink pistols, if for no other reason than to be prepared if queued to play out the following scene:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE2-7a_F_B0&hl=en]
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I am still not entirely sure how I feel about the Supreme Court’s decision. On one hand, they didn’t write the Constitution, but it is their job to interpret it, whether they agree with it or not. On the other, it has been interpreted in the past to refer to keeping firearms specifically for the purpose of forming a militia in wartime. However, as the justices have made their decision, our job (if we are unhappy with it) is to amend the Constitution.
Without knowing the specifics of any amendments that might be proposed, I can only tentatively say that I would support one. The thing is, as long as people are allowed to keep guns for hunting and other purposes, no one will really be entirely safe from them, but it does seem to me that in countries that have stricter gun controls, the murder rate is much lower (although obviously there are other factors at work there as well).
To paraphrase Eddie Izzard, people kill people, but the gun helps.
It is always interesting to me to hear my friends here talk about gun control… I was born and raised in Wyoming, and (big shocker) the mentality about guns is much, much different. Everyone has them; my father has carried a concealed weapon to work for most of his life; I learned how to handle a gun around 8 or 9.
Between the 2nd Amendment and the attitude towards guns in “cowboy culture” (strong in the west and mountain west), I think the chances of a Constitutional amendment passing any time soon is very, very slim.
Given that, the ability to limit gun possession in other areas (the east coast, urban environments) is going to be curtailed – the guns will exist, and if criminals want them, the black market will supply. I think that many laws like the DC handgun ban do far more to limit the acquisition of guns by responsible, law-abiding citizens than by the various elements of society that most of the rest of us would probably rather not have firearms.
I’m not sure where exactly I stand; I’m kind of simultaneously for and against gun control… While I make up my mind, though, the Wyoming side of me will continue to snicker every time he sees a “knife amnesty” program run in the UK =D
I really predict that the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling will be much the same as the expiration of the “Assault Weapon Ban” a couple of years ago — barely noticeable. With the ban expiring, you could again buy a weapon with a magazine of unlimited capacity and a rifle with a bayonet lug. Net result? Nothing. No spray-and-pray shootings. No increase in gun violence. There will be a lot of sound and fury from anti-gun types for a while, and maybe a few lawsuits as governments like the District try to write regulations so tight that they are de facto bans, but at the end of the day, little will change. Hey, maybe the violence in the District will go down once the criminals start to realize their defenseless prey may not be so defenseless.
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