Twelve Dead, More to Come

Around and around it goes, this time a crazed nutter named DeWayne Craddock entered the Municipal Building in Virginia Beach where he worked and killed twelve people before the police shot him dead. Three people are still in critical condition as I write this.

What can be done? We live now in a hate-filled, violence-prone country. You have to wonder these days if it’s safe to take your kids to a movie, go to work, or even worship in a church. There’s only one solution, ban all private ownership of guns.

Oh, but there’s a Second Amendment, you say? Let’s have a look at the Second Amendment.

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 we need to consider the term “well regulated militia.” In the 17th century, the thirteen original states each had a citizen militia. That is, if an emergency arose, such as an Indian attack, or an armed uprising by some town that didn’t want to pay taxes, the State’s Governor could call up the citizen militia to deal with the crisis. These citizens brought their own muskets and pistols. There probably were a few cannons stored somewhere, if needed. That’s how we won the Revolutionary War, each state contributed some of its citizen militia to join the Continental Army commanded by George Washington.

Look at the situation today. There are no citizen militias anymore, they have all been replaced by National Guards. Each state has one. If there’s a natural disaster, the Governor calls them up to deal with it. If there’s a riot in one of the cities, they show up to restore order. In my state of Florida, there are 9,600 soldiers and airmen trained and available for a call-up. They used to train one weekend a month, plus two weeks a year. Now, with all our stupid wars all over the world, they’re likely to serve two years out of a six-year stint. There are many National Guard bases all over Florida, three are in my area, Tampa – St. Petersburg. The bases have all their gear, rifles, handguns, vehicles and aircraft.

Here’s the thing. There is no need for a citizen militia anymore, we have replaced all those with National Guards. The Second Amendment is no longer applicable.

I believe private ownership of guns should be banned. It’s the only way to stop the ever-increasing violence. Hunters can rent their rifles from the local game warden, returning them when done. Target practice could be done at a local gun range, where the guns are borrowed and returned. Farmers who need to shoot vermin endangering their livestock can get a licensed gun for that purpose.

Only 30% of the population of the United States owns a gun, yet there are 393 million of them. The Virginia Beach shooter, DeWayne Craddock, apparently owned multiple guns.

If you watch Fox News, vote Republican, or pride yourself being a right-winger, your answer to the rising violence is “more guns.” That’s exactly what the NRA and gun manufacturers want. It’s like pouring gasoline on a raging fire, it only makes it worse.

It’s time to ban private ownership of guns, make it a felony to possess one.