> From: John Hudson <OM4T@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Just another day ............. today's mass school shooting in Texas
The problem is that the Second Amendment qualifies arms rights with "A well
regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state," but, a
2008 Supreme Court decision blew all that away.
I see a bridge to the divide. The Second Amendment should be re-instated, in
its entirety. The US Congress should set up qualifications and requirements for
"regulating militia," such as everyone owning a firearm should be a member of a
militia, that those militia should annually qualify and train their membership,
and that they should not divulge their members to the government, except as a
by-query "white list" for gun purchases.
This would eliminate 90% of "bad" gun owners, while providing the paranoid an
"arms length" relationship with government.
Everyone looks at the mass shootings (averaging one per day in the US!) and
says it is unavoidable, and that the answer is even more arms. The US
Constitution says otherwise.
Bring back the "well regulated militia" in a way that does not expose
individual gun owners to the government. Every local rod-and-gun club could
qualify. And none of them want to see crackpots with weapons.
It's called "peer review," on a local level. It could work. It could stop the
bloodshed. But not as long as both sides are angrily shouting at each other.
Switzerland is often pointed out as an example by gun enthusiasts. But
Switzerland truly has a "well-regulated militia." You don't get a firearm in
Switzerland without being a member of a qualifying body. And your firearm can
be taken away by that qualifying body if you don't behave. And they check on
you annually. And they have a firearm death rate about 1/100th that of the US,
while having nearly the same concentration of firearms. (I'm not making this
up; I lived there for two years.)
Bring back the "well regulated militia" part of the Second Amendment.
Constitutional rights preserved. Someone (not the government!) checking on all
the crazies. Case closed.
Jan
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