Yes … No … Maybe?

Over at World’s Pain, a rather long and detailed discussion related to the Second Amendment (and a few other contentious issues) has been taking place between Dave, a U.S. citizen, and rautakyy, the blog owner and a Finland resident (also an occasional visitor to this blog).

The former is a staunch supporter of gun ownership via the Second Amendment, while rautakyy disagrees and supports his stand through basic reasoning, along with sharing the various gun laws of his home country … AND common sense assertions.

As one might expect, Dave, the antagonist, touts the abbreviated version of the Second Amendment as justification for gun ownership in the U.S., along with the various and sundry reasons that many before him have expressed (including individual state laws, various facts and figures on gun-related incidents, etc.).

If this is a topic that interests you, I urge you to spend some time and follow the conversation. In the meantime, I wanted to share this latest (verbatim) entry by rautakyy:

@Dave, as a researcher of history, it appears as quite clear to me what the second amendment means and why it was formulated as it was. It needs to be looked at in the cultural and political context it was written in. That leaves very little interpretation room. The newly founded states needed a military, but did not have stable enough revenue to create one capable of fending off the global empire they had broken from. A nother option would have been draft, but that – just like taxation to build a standing army – reminded too much like the British empire. So, they worded the law to look like voluntary service in a regulated state militia and paying for the necessary equipment by oneself was one of the new freedoms they had given to people. This was a way to ensure also, that the frontiersmen would make less trouble, as it became possible for them to join the society, and be regulated at the same time. Most certainly the newly founded government did not think dudes sitting at home with their muskets would somehow make the government make any better laws. They may have written beatiful propaganda about it, but it is a bit absurd to think, that is how they saw their own social morals – incited to do better out fear for violence.

Here in Finland we are only experimenting on drivers licences for kids under the age of 18 years. The test has brought good and bad results. Neither driving a car, nor owning a gun are basic human rights. They are liberties regulated (well or poorly) and granted by the society to an individual based on an evaluation of that individual being responsible enough to not take exessive risks at the cost of others.

I am well aware this is a super contentious issue among U.S. citizens and more than likely we will never find common ground. Nevertheless, I believe that sharing statistics and laws that exist in other countries is a good thing … and MAYBE an “on-the-fence” person will give it some thought and (possibly) reconsider their position.

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Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

LaPierre Says Obama Has All the Gun Laws He Needs

Just listened to a video on Facebook made by the darling of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre. He was adamantly claiming the “carnage” in the U.S. would stop if Obama would simply enforce the current U.S. gun laws. (I’m not posting the video itself as I don’t want to give LaPierre any more publicity than necessary.)

President Obama has all the laws he needs to stop the bloodshed now …

Coincidentally, just a few hours before listening to this message, I had typed in Google search: “Gun laws in the U.S.”

Here is what I found on Wikipedia:

Most federal gun laws were enacted through one or more of these acts:^[1][2]

• National Firearms Act (NFA) (1934) – Taxes the manufacture and transfer of, and mandates the registration of Title II weapons such as machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, heavy weapons, explosive ordnance, silencers, and disguised or improvised firearms.
• Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (1968) – Prohibited interstate trade in handguns, increased the minimum age to 21 for buying handguns.
• Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) (1968) – Focuses primarily on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally prohibiting interstate firearms transfers except among licensed manufacturers, dealers and importers.
• Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) (1986) – Revised and partially repealed the Gun Control Act of 1968. Prohibited the sale to civilians of automatic firearms manufactured after the date of the law’s passage. Required ATF approval of transfers of automatic firearms.
• Undetectable Firearms Act (1988) – Effectively criminalizes, with a few exceptions, the manufacture, importation, sale, shipment, delivery, possession, transfer, or receipt of firearms with less than 3.7 oz of metal content.
• Gun-Free School Zones Act (1990) – Prohibits unauthorized individuals from knowingly possessing a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.
• Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993) – Requires background checks on most firearm purchasers, depending on seller and venue.
• Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994–2004) – Banned semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices. The law expired in 2004.
• Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (2005) – Prevent firearms manufacturers and licensed dealers from being held liable for negligence when crimes have been committed with their products.

Maybe I’m missing something, but does anyone see something in here that confirms LaPierre’s statement that Obama has all the laws he needs?

The laws talk about taxes, interstate trade, interstate commerce, guns that contain less than 3.7 oz. of metal content, gun-free school zones, background checks, and negligence liability related to manufacturers and dealers. The only Federal law that resembles any kind of gun control is the background checks — and we’ve seen the effect they have had.

Please. Someone enlighten me.

I’m aware there have been cases before the Court that addressed the various use of guns (mostly, it seems, related to state laws), but the above are the “Federal Gun Laws.”

It is important to note that state gun laws do vary considerably, and are independent of existing federal firearms laws. They can be broader or more limited in scope than the federal laws.

Also note that the one law that could have made a difference EXPIRED in 2004.