Posted on 08/04/2007 10:30:58 AM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
In the aftermath of the Petit family slayings in Cheshire, we all reached for explanations: How do human beings sink this low? How could this tragedy have been prevented? Why? There are so many nagging questions. They all need to be asked. And maybe some old arguments need to be hashed out again.
Why not a more stringent "three strikes and you're out" law in this state? Connecticut's version is so weak that it's more like "30 strikes and we'll think about it while you strike again."
Why not speed up the criminal trial process for repeat violent offenders? Get them off the streets. It's been proposed many times. Most people agree it should be done. It never happens.
Can't we better monitor the probation process?
Can't we do a better job of predicting -- figuring out which non-violent criminals are about to turn violent?
Are home alarms really effective?
How about dogs?
But somehow all of these ideas pale before the barbarity of this particular crime.
That is why one old question is worth asking again. It is this: What if the Second Amendment is for real? Is it possible that it should it be revered, just like the First Amendment?
Sam Ervin said, "The Constitution should be taken like mountain whiskey -- undiluted and untaxed." Maybe that applies to all of the Constitution.
Is it possible that the Second Amendment is not a quaint and antiquated remnant of a world that will never return, but an idea as relevant and sound today as when it was written?
Is it possible that we are not talking about the right of the government to form a militia when there is no standing army, but the right of the individual to defend himself, or herself, against both tyranny and lawlessness? Maybe we are talking about the right of self-defense -- the right of the individual to take up arms against a government that wants to oppress, be it foreign or domestic. And the right of the individual to defend himself against criminals, brutes, and barbarians when local police seem unable to stop them.
Might the Second Amendment matter almost as much as the First?
I think the answer is yes.
And just like the First, the Second is practical, newly relevant, and far wiser than the watered-down alternatives.
I don't think George Bush wants to impose martial law on his fellow citizens. But he has diluted habeas corpus. And he has enlarged Big Brother. You have to stop and think about a government that wants to control the thoughts and behavior of its people.
Should such a government be permitted to disarm them as well?
And whereas the reform of the criminal justice system along some of the lines suggested above (a real "three strikes" law and faster trials for violent offenders) would not have saved the lives of Jennifer, and Hayley, and Michaela Petit, a gun might have.
I don't say it would have.
I say it might have.
Had Dr. William Petit had access to a gun and known how to use it, he might have been able to dispatch the two perpetrators, who were armed with only an air gun and ropes.
Moreover, the three victims here were women.
What if Mrs. Hawke-Petit had been trained in the use of firearms? Suppose she had been able to get to a gun after her husband was beaten into unconsciousness by the invaders? Or when she was forced to take one captor to the bank to fetch him money?
It's worth thinking about.
Women and children are now the major targets of predators in our society. Government is not protecting them very well. Many professional women who work in cities know this and take courses in self-defense. A gun may be the only realistic self-defense against the sort of criminals we are talking about here.
And if a few women took care of a few thugs in cases like this; if a few stories like this one ended in a different way -- with a woman blowing one of these brutes to kingdom come -- it might be a deterrent. Lives upon lives might be spared.
A friend of mine said: "The gun nuts are back."
They are.
And they are right.
Mind you, we are talking about arming people who are trained and know how to use a weapon.
No one should have a gun who has not been trained.
Just as one gets training in handling a boat, motorcycle, or car, one must learn how to use and safely store a gun. (The National Rifle Association maintains an extensive national network of programs in firearms training and education.)
And, obviously, no one would be forced to own a gun.
A second caveat: Encouraging citizens to arm themselves is no "answer" to crimes like the Petit murders.
An "answer" does not exist.
But it is one of several remedies when we are faced with palpable evil.
All possible remedies should be on the table:
-- Various reforms of the justice system, like a real three-strike-law for predatory offenders.
-- Better psychological treatment for troubled youth.
-- Religious training, in both love and self-restraint, especially when people are young.
-- Prison programs that both retain the hard core and educate the educable.
-- More and better home alarm systems.
-- More cops visible in more neighborhoods.
-- Dobermans.
All of these approaches have merit.
So does self-defense.
None of these options "fix" a society that can produce human beings who torture and kill the defenseless for sport.
No one step or program can plug every hole in America's justice system, or its soul.
But there are times when a gun in the hands of a potential victim may save a life.
Let's admit -- since the murderers, and druggies, and psychos, and thieves already have guns -- that arming the peaceful, law-abiding, decent, and productive people, whether in a school, or a private home, or on the way to a parked car, is an option that also has merit.
--------
Keith C. Burris is editorial page editor of the Journal Inquirer.
This Kos-pandering will come back to haunt the donks. GOP ad gurus are going to have a field day with it next year.
Look at that list you wrote. In a very real sense the only thing on that list most civilian Americans would exercise deadly force over is self-defense.
In concept, most Americans acknowledge there are ideals worthy killing and dying for, but if you asked them for a practical example of such a case they would be dumbfounded without some authority figure to tell them it's legitimate.
That's not how people jealous for their liberty think.
All the guns in the world won't protect a nation full of people that won't use those guns until their enemy tells them it's okay.
POP QUIZ
Who can tell us what weapon was used in the commission of the first act of murder.
Second question -- Why are those weapons still so readily available to so many children and adults alike and no uproar asking for the banning of them?
How did they support the “warranty” after the weapon broke up?
Did the send you a new rifle/new (life-long) ammo gift certificate? 8<)
Now, why in your liberal New England progressively trained mind would you even think of putting a "maybe" in that sentence.
Oh yeah. You have a liberal, New England progressively trained mind.
I smack my palm against my forehead and say "duh".
So was my post...{:0)
The bogeyman is scared to death of him.
When he visited Yellowstone National Park the local cab companies drove 16,276 Grizzly Bears to hotels because they "wanted to get away for a few days".
I once saw him pick up a 750 pound gun safe and carry it into my garage.
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Well, the right of self-defense is what has been largely criminalized in many jurisdictions, simply because when we are talking about self-defense, we are talking about firearms, particularly handguns. There’s really no way around that.
What has happened over the years is simply astonishing. The state now prohibits self-defense in any meaningful way, but does not offer any protection from the miscreants who wish to do us harm. The silent, unspoken message seems to be “Die quietly, and don’t ask too many questions.”
Hehe! That’s good.
Screw 'em. Don't ask, don't tell. None of their damn business anyhow.
It matters more than the first, because the First has been dead for several years now, along with the rest of the constitution. The neo-totalitarians hate the constitution with a passion, so they stick another stake in it at every opportunity.
I don’t take such a negative view. In a polite society, a gunslinger stands out because most people just never have a reason to be armed—a gun is just something else to carry around and get lost or stolen. The exception is and has always been in “the bad part of town.”
Even in the old West, most cowboys were more inclined to use their handgun like a hammer than as a weapon. The few who did use them, used them more to signal or to scare off wildlife they didn’t want hanging around. Few lawmen or townspeople have ever been happy with somebody running around town shooting their gun in the air as celebration—because it was a good way for somebody to get hurt.
So again, in polite society, most people who carry guns either have a good reason or are involved in mischief. Those without guns just never find cause to worry.
In my life I have never met up with anyone in government who menaced me enough to want to be armed—far more often those individuals who have mischief in mind. This is because any efforts to reduce my liberties have always been petty, or have had a halfway good reason. Again, a reflection of a polite society.
Those who are not willing to give an inch of their liberty have no place in a place where there are other people; because just to be in a place like that, everybody has to give a little.
All of the above is typical in America. Most people take a reasoned view of things. It doesn’t mean that they are blades of grass twisting in the wind, nor that they won’t strongly react if somebody really does them an injustice.
Are you kidding? Who the hell decides how much? You? Jorge Bush?
I pack heat and will until the day I die.
Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Benjamin Franklin
There is nothing more essential than the right to defend oneself.
Naw.
Mostly spiders is all I can think of.
Thanks for participating in Misunderstood Sarcasm Day.
Although, if the misunderstanding is so widespread, could I have poorly stated my sarcasm???
....................nahhhh....................
“Is it possible that the Second Amendment is not a quaint and antiquated remnant of a world that will never return, but an idea as relevant and sound today as when it was written?”
Smart fellas them Founding Fathers.
Seems the Left (at least those not thoroughly indoctrinated) are beginning to realize that.
In truth, yes. And well they should. Guns are like fire---dangerous when un-controlled, but darned useful in the right time and place.
“The Second matters more than the First. The Second is the one that puts teeth in all the rest of the Amendments.”
It should actually be the First Amendment, but you’re dead right.
...weinie...
;o)
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