Standing on My Soapbox: Gun Control

This is the second of what I hope to be many articles voicing my opinions on what is going on in the world today. I am a conservative southerner born and raised in the Bible belt so you can probably already tell where I stand on many of the controversial issues that this country faces. If you don't share my views that is your prerogative and I don't wish for you to change your mind based on anything that I say (type). In these articles I will address things in the news or anything that I have on my mind at the time. I hope you enjoy.

Gun Control i.e. the Second Amendment is a hot topic in the news today and every other day for that matter. Gun control activists try to take guns and gun retention activists try to keep them. I figured I might as well jump right in the middle of this and get my views out there, as if they really matter to anyone but me.

OK, if you made it this far then you've already seen that I'm a southerner and probably picture me with a rebel flag t-shirt, driving a jacked-up gas hog with a dukes of hazard accent. One out of three ain't bad. I have the accent, sorry I'm a victim of my surroundings. In case you were wondering many of the ladies find it attractive. I do drive a truck, but it's a Toyota and it's not jacked up. No rebel flags here. So you can throw you're "well he's just a redneck" argument out the window. I am actually a well educated, well articulated person with a white collar job that allows me to submit content for you fine people to read instead of doing work. OK, enough about me, on to the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment states, "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." Now, you can argue the commas, capitalization, etc. until you're blue in the face. In this article I'm going to look at It from a common sense point of view. Let's look at it in sections

A well regulated militia - In my opinion this is pretty self explanatory (it means a well led army)

being necessary to the security of a free state - The last time I checked all of the 50 states are still free, this just says that it is NECESSARY to our security.

the right of the people to keep and bear arms - OK, in case you can' t read this identifies the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Now wait for it.

shall not be infringed. - Now put the previous statement with this one and you have the right.....shall not be infringed.

Now for the arguments. Many people say that the second amendment only applies to a militia or a group. In the days of the constitution a "militia" was nothing but a rag tag group of citizens that fought for the Independence of this country. They used their OWN guns, not to mention clothes, and many other things. Don't fault the fathers of this constitution for using the vocabulary of the day. The right of "the people" is also debated. Who are "the people" that this amendment protects. One has to look no further than the Preamble to the Constitution.

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

In case you missed it, "We THE PEOPLE of the United States." This clearly states that the people are you and me, the regular citizens of the United States.

Many before me have said this, but it is true. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. I know it sounds redundant at this point, but it's true. You can stab a gun, blow a gun up, hang a gun, even kill a gun's mother and it WILL NOT kill you back. It's brother won't do it either. Heck, not even the government will put you in jail for stabbing a gun. Try that with a person and see what happens.

Now, I want you to know that I am for gun REGULATION. I do thing that background checks, etc. should be done to protect the public from those of unsound mind. I don't want everyone in the psych ward going and buying a .40.

At this point I think the rights of the individual to keep and bear arms is pretty clear, but in case you are a numbers person here are the numbers. According to the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/04/21/weekinreview/20070422_MARSH_GRAPHIC.html), in 2004 there were 29,569 deaths due to "guns." That doesn't even count the injuries. Now, for the same year according to NHTSA (http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx) there were 38,444 deaths in automobiles. In case you're keeping score that's 8875 more deaths that are attributed to driving on our highways. How about using all of this money that we are throwing at gun control and try to get a safer, more fuel efficient vehicle on the road. I could go on but that's for another soapbox.