Gun control vs. Privacy Rights

The government gave us the right to bear arms. There are people living amongst us that should never have access to arms. The system has failed us by allowing these persons access to arms. Criminals will always find a way to get arms. We need the right to bear arms because the government cannot protect us. This collection of true statements best sums up the thorny issue put before our Supreme Court.

Regardless of our forefathers intentions when wording the Second Amendment, today’s society, being as violent prone as it is, should hold greater sway over our right to bear arms.

Our police force is not of a sufficient size to protect the citizenry. Therefore we need to do it ourselves.

In the absence of verifiable training and competency in handling a weapon capable of dealing out death, no one should have access to any handgun. In an ideal world, no mentally unstable person would have access to a handgun. But that is not our currently reality. We have to be able to protect ourselves. If a person chooses to own a handgun they should be allowed to but only after extensive education, training and background checks.

The need for background checks is not debatable. The requirement for more stringent and reliable screening, along with even tougher penalties for anyone selling a handgun used in a crime by a person determined to have been a high risk, is not debatable. The base issue for achieving more stringent and reliable screening revolves around the ability to collect all pertinent information on every individual living in this country and the ability to share data between states. Without the ability to collect and share this data you cannot expect a thorough and complete examination of an individuals past history.

Americans value their privacy and laws have been enacted to ensure that they continue to have their privacy protected. So, just how far are the citizens of this country willing to go to keep handguns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill?

Criminals, of course, will always find a way to get a handgun. The mentally ill has in far too many cases bought handguns legally. The everyday law-abiding citizen, who is most at risk from the other two groups, is more often refused a handgun permit due to lack of proof of the need for one.

The majority of citizens are law abiding, good people and permitting them to carry a handgun is not going to instantly turn them into criminals or embolden them to the point that they will resort to using it. The real test comes when faced with road rage or some other heated moment of passion that could lead to a greater chance of serious injury or death, to their intended victim and/or innocent bystanders, if a handgun is at the ready. These situations are the most worrisome and illustrate the paramount importance of the utmost care in determining a persons mental, moral and ethical health before being given a gun. But even careful scrutiny will not guarantee public safety.

An extreme but very real example: a jittery, nervous single mother expecting retaliation from someone she is protecting her neighborhood and home from expecting someone to break into her home could possibly be more likely to shoot at anything that moves and ask questions later. This makes this type of person a serious threat to the public.

Another very real example: the misinterpretation of the motives of someone trying to get your attention to save you from some other threat that you may not be aware of could be shot as an intruder or antagonist.

The right to bear arms should definitely be given in times of national emergency so we can assist the police and military, granted not a likely scenario but possible. The right to bear arms otherwise should also be allowed but only after thorough background checks and training. We have a long way to go in balancing privacy rights with the rights to bear arms before we can prove we will not become an even greater threat to ourselves by giving everyone handguns.

The bottom line is we have allowed the worst common denominator among us to dictate the need to carry a weapon. And in this undeniably violent society we are not addressing the very real need for anger management to help us control our violent urges. Nor are we addressing the moral and ethical issues needed to respect one another. Until we address these issues none of us is safe from ourselves, whether we carry a gun or not.

We are losing our common decency

Dad kills children’s mother in front of them.

Kid Rock arrested after Waffle House brawl

Teen shoots four, kills self at Cleveland high school

A sheriff's deputy kills six young people at a house party in Crandon, Wisconsin, because his ex-girlfriend wouldn't take him back.

Man kills self in front of City Council after vote.

Parents beat 5-year-old.

Police blast into building, kill 63-year-old man who shot 5 at law office because he felt unfairly treated during divorce settlement.

Ex husband sets wife afire in front of witnesses. They don’t even care that their brazen acts of violence are witnessed anymore.

Stories like these are repeated every day. People are either putting off responsibility onto others or they are taking the law into their own hands and using violence to 'solve' their problems.

Why is it that people are resorting to violence and giving up on more civilized methods?

Are we becoming a society that believes if you walk away from a confrontation instead of getting physical then you are a wimp? Is this how an adult is judged these days? Is this what is passing for being manly, grown-up, or mature? Have we really reverted to animalism as the only means to settle our differences?

People are willing to become criminals, facing jail time, over words! How ridiculous is that?

People are lowering themselves to animal behavior because someone says they don’t ‘love’ us anymore and then killing the person they vowed to ‘love, cherish and respect’. What the hell, people?

This is ludicrous. The threat of punishment does not stop these people any more.

Is it becoming more of a mental health problem or simply animal instinct coming out?

Where is this society headed when we think it is better to kill or beat someone than to just turn the other cheek? This used to be preached to us as children that what ever someone says to you is only words and you should never escalate it into violence. I went to church as a child and I was taught to treat others as you want to be treated. This important lesson is not being taught anymore. There simply are not enough people going to church anymore learning to respect other people.

This is the perfect time to bring up the proliferation of the number of handguns in our society. Without them there would not be as many dead. That point cannot be argued. Handguns are used to kill people. That stupid slogan about how guns don’t kill people, people kill people, well without guns it would not be so easy to kill someone. And there would not be as many dead.

Why are we so on edge all the time ready to flip out at the drop of an assumed slight?

This affinity to resort to rage is especially prevalent while driving a car. Road rage cases are up. People become infuriated at the slightest assumption of rudeness. Stress, anxiety, antagonism all fuel the fire of frustration with life’s every day pressures to result in taking out that frustration on unsuspecting people. Then those people who now feel wrongly attacked fight back. Then it devolves into violence. We need to learn anger management.

Even without anger management, the one thing that should help us all get along with each other is respect. Everyone deserves it until they show they don’t want it. Common decency should tell us that a human life is worth far more than the ego of any one person who feels he should exact retribution just because someone calls him something he doesn’t like or cuts him off in traffic, or refuses to be with him anymore.