| APRIL 3, 2013 -- A number of states currently have a multitude of bills that proposal restrictions on the second amendment in their legislative process, and New York, Connecticut and Colorado have now passed legislation that will limit the types of guns and the amount of ammunition that a gun can hold. These moves are based on the old theory that if law abiding citizens don’t have guns, life will be safer. The laws also include some form of registries of gun owners.
It amazes me that many of our elected officials believe that one of the biggest threats to American freedom is Americans owning firearms. Few of the horrendous crimes of the last year or last decade were committed by citizens who legally acquired their weapons, and legal acquisition may become even harder if NY Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s proposal passes Congress.
Maloney would like to see a liability insurance law requiring gun buyers to have a “qualified liability insurance policy” before they may legally purchase a gun. It includes a fine as high as $10,000 if a gun owner doesn’t have insurance on guns purchased after the bill goes into effect. In addition, it would be a federal crime to sell a firearm to anyone without insurance.
Instead of dealing with ensuring mental health care, enforcing the vast multitude of laws already on books, or dealing with our financial crisis, which threatens the very future of our nation, many of our elected officials seek attention by passing redundant laws and by creating more prospects for law abiding citizens to become criminals.
What is the goal? Is it the disarming of America citizens? Is it a risk free world where nothing dangerous exists?
I do not pretend to know what is going on in the minds of our elected officials when they speak out against the second amendment. I wonder what their reaction would be to the weakening of any of the other amendments in oure Bill of Rights. Would they care if we weaken the third? Would they even know what the third amendment protects without Googling it?
The National Grange has always advocated that the foundation of our nation is the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Our leadership has always stood up and spoken in strong language on behalf of our members and their support of the founding and governing document of our country.
Let’s transfer this unreasonable gun control mania to dealing with the debt crisis that is consuming our cities (Stockton, CA being the latest), many of our States, and our nation. Few, if any, of the horrible crimes committed with firearms would have been prevented if these new or proposed laws had been on the books. Yet rather than dealing with the debt issue, which any person who can balance their checkbook can see and understand, our elected officials focus their energy on feel good legislation that doesn’t create any real solutions. Let’s use our time, energy, and brains in dealing with a real, substantive, and growing problem rather than manufacturing a crisis out of horrible crimes. |
