But as a
rational observer of American politics I do not see a realistic scenario in
which guns will not continue to be an ordinary and familiar element in our
lives. Keep in mind that the 2nd Amendment speaks directly to weapons that
would be used to support a militia, in other words, an Army. Thus, assault
rifles are precisely the type of weapon the 2nd Amendment wants to have in the
hands of citizens.
But, the only
legitimate first step, repealing the 2nd Amendment, is not realistic, not with
so many Americans opposing such a move. With weapons already in the hands of
the citizenry numbering in the hundreds of millions, effective gun control is not
much more than a pipe dream. Physically, those existing weapons have been made
to last for 100 years or more and would almost certainly be grandfathered into
any gun control legislation that may pass. Those weapons will not disappear
from our lives — their confiscation is unthinkable — no matter how weapons are
restricted in the future. How can they be controlled? Not by any scenario I
believe is politically feasible.
Americans
should admit that we live in a country where gun ownership is worshiped and
guns themselves are objects of quasi-sexual fetishistic fantasies and dead
children are quickly forgotten by most, with the exception of close relatives
and friends. That’s the harsh lesson taught by Columbine High School and too
many other examples.
The bottom
line concerns a realistic scenario I see that’s based on our recent history
with gun violence. People will rant and rage over the bloody slaughter of
innocents for a few months, demanding politicians pass meaningful gun control
legislation while the powerful gun lobby wraps their arms around politicians from
both parties and pressures them to protect the right of every American to own weapons.
What we will get in the end is pablum that will allow both sides to declare some
sort of moral victory. Then we’ll hope and pray that we've seen the last of senseless
mass killings. But when it does happen, as it inevitably will, outraged voices
will be raised once again for meaningful gun controls. That’s life in America, where
people love their guns.
America is an
“exceptional” nation favored God over all others, or so the conservatives would
have us believe. Just tell me how it is that, when the far greater majority of
those conservatives proclaim themselves as born-again Christians, they are such
fanatical gun worshipers? Was it Jesus who told them to buy assault weapons, or
30-bullet magazines? Would Jesus arm himself to the teeth and shoot the first person
who tried to break into his house or steal a loaf of bread? What in the world
happened to love thy neighbor as thyself? Or turn the other cheek? Naturally,
that hypocrisy fits right-wing ideologues like a glove.
