Fair Trade?

Let’s move this gun business along quickly.  Let’s repeal the 2^nd and 4^th Amendments to start with.

Hold your constitutional horses!  What’s the 4^th Amendment got to do with guns?  I just want to change the law—OK, the Supreme Law of the land—to take away protection for guns.

You don’t need a Constitutional Amendment for that.

No?  Really?

In fact, you don’t have to do anything.  Guns have no protection.  The 2^nd Amendment protects the right of the people.  Our Constitution protects the rights of people, not things or places.  These first few amendments protect people.

But what’s this 4^th Amendment business?

It protects people as well.  It secures the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures.  It’s tied in closely with the 3^rd Amendment that says that the government can’t just start quartering soldiers in your house. 

I’m missing the connection with the 2^nd Amendment.

If we take all the guns from those whom currently are guaranteed them as an individual right necessary to the security of a free state, that means we are relying solely upon our government for security and liberty.

Sure.  What’s wrong with that?

Nothing, unless you are ready to surrender in short order all forms of privacy.  The government will provide for the continuation of the government.  It will capriciously search any and all information that previously belonged to you--all with good reason, of course.  Security and safety will be their mantra.  They will place enforcement officials wherever they want, to include your homes.  Privacy as you know it will be gone.  Liberty will be something you can only read about in history books, until they too are prohibited or at least redacted.

That’s just crazy.  We would vote out anyone who took away those rights from us.

And if they suspended elections in the name of security.

We would not let them do that.

How would you stop them?

With protests.

And when those were outlawed?

We have the right to protest.

Today you do.  Will you still have it when the people are no longer capable of taking back their government when it has ceased to be their government?

That could never happen. 

You are entitled to that belief.  I hope you will search through the history of humankind and see what happens when power is unchecked.

Are you telling me that the 2^nd Amendment is part of the checks and balances process?

No.  It is not a part it is the sine qua non of that process.

This self-government business is tough business. 

We can agree on that.  The question is are we dedicated to preserving the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity?

That sounds familiar.

It should, it’s from the Preamble to the Constitution—good stuff—if you are into liberty and opposed to government having too much power over you.

But, and this is a big but, is the price that we pay for the right to bear arms too high?

That is the heart of the question.  How high of a price are we as Americans willing to pay to preserve liberty?  And how do we measure this price?

That last one is easy.  We measure it in lives lost. 

Fair enough.  There are metrics available for that.  Should we just look at school and church shootings are all gun deaths.

All.  Definitely all. 

OK, sounds good.  The CDC reports that there is an average of 33,000 deaths per year in this country due to firearms.

Wow!  That should be convincing enough in itself.

That is a big number by anyone’s measure.  Before I jump on this bandwagon based upon numbers, I must ask if you are in favor of slavery?

What?  Are you crazy?  Nobody is in favor of slavery.  I think slavery is an abomination to the human spirit. 

I agree.

So why do you bring such a bizarre question into this discussion?

Because despite the very exceptional efforts of our Founding Fathers in drafting our Constitution, they did not guarantee liberty to all.  There was a movement to rid this new nation of slavery during the Constitutional Convention, but it could not garner enough support.

But we fixed it later.

Yes, we did.  Were you glad that we did?

Of course!  Who wouldn’t be!  You can’t just deny a certain group of people liberty.

No?  I think that you can, and we had done just that for almost a century as an independent nation.  Slavery was the order of the day in many states.

Yes, but Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation set the slaves free.

At what price?

What do you mean?

We are measuring the cost of liberty in lives, are we not?

Yes.

How many American lives were lost in the Civil War?

Well, I don’t know, let’s say a bunch.

Bananas come in bunches.  Civil War casualties come in the hundreds of thousands.  I think the conservative estimate is 618,000.  Other estimates push 700,000.

Those were not all from firearms.

Correct.  About one-third to one-half were killed in during the course of the battle.  About another third due to infection and disease that followed being wounded.  There were—as always in battle—some non-combat casualties.  But the direct and indirect number of deaths from guns was pushing half a million.  That’s a big number.

Yes, but that’s war.

Yes, a civil war with nearly all casualties being American.

But, it’s still war.

It was a war with the liberty of some Americans at stake.  Was it worth the price paid in American blood?

Who can answer that?

I will rephrase.  Would you be content to be an American and have a segment of the population that was still enslaved today?

No.  Of course not.  But I don’t think slavery would have continued this long.  The world is changing.  Slavery is not acceptable.

Again, I suggest a review of history and current events.  There is still slavery in the world.  It might be called indentured servitude, but it is modern slavery.

Yeah, OK, but we would have gotten rid of it here by now.

So, instead of a violent civil war, you would have just let things run their course for another 100 or 150 years until people saw the light and the commercial interests of slave owners would give way to public opinion?

That’s not fair.  How can you ask me to decide that?

You don’t have to.  Others decided it was worth the very high price.  Your decision is how high of a price are we as a free people willing to pay to preserve liberty in this modern century?

But so many victims are innocent.  They did not deserve to die.

That is beyond discussion.  So many lives have been taken maliciously.  We are in total agreement.

So, what are we to do?  Is there no other way than protecting guns?

Remember, our Constitution does not protect guns but…

People.  I understand.  I get it.  I also get that the other protections guaranteed to the people might fall as well if the ultimate protection—to kick an unjust government to the curb forcibly if needed—was surrendered.  But, I can’t stomach the violence anymore.  What course of action is left to us?

For the past half-century, we have ignored the problem and cried out against the symptoms of our national disease.

What?

We don’t value life as something sacred anymore.

What?

Life is a gift from God.  It is special.  It is beyond special.  It is sacred.  We must value life from the womb to old age.

You mean our thoughts and prayers are with you.  I’m tired of hearing that.

Those words do get old after a while, especially, when nothing is done to treat the disease.  Those words are the best that we can do if we choose to continue to ignore the real problem.

Valuing life?

Yes.

Do we need a law?

We have plenty of laws.  In fact, we surely have more than we need.

So what do we need?

Love.  We need to commit to loving one another.  This is God’s model.

Do you still want to keep your guns and love one another?

It would be wonderful to see the day when we turn our weapons into farm implements and pruning shears.

You mean swords into plowshares.  Not all gun control people are biblically lacking.

Touché.

But until that time…

I will stand vigilant against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  The latter has not reared its ugly head to the point that the election process has become obsolete, but I would prefer to be ready and provisioned if it does.

But is it worth the cost?

Good question.  What’s your answer now?

School Shootings

I believe that the long-term solution to the school shooting problem lies in returning to God, valuing life, and loving our neighbor.  That said, we need a short-term plan to mitigate the existing hatred and skewed moral compass of too many in our society so that we don’t have to endure shooting after shooting.  We must address the condition of the human heart and security in our schools concurrently.

I do not want teachers armed.  It sounds like a plausible idea on the surface, unless you know what teaching involves.  We do not need to add one more thing to the burden that teachers already carry on top of their teaching duties.  Teachers must focus on teaching.

Security demands full-time attention.  Passive measures and active shooter procedures are good but insufficient.  If security is truly required by the nature of the threat—and in many places it surely is—at least one person if not more must be dedicated solely to the purpose of security.  Numbers depend upon the school population and campus.

If you have cameras, they must be monitored constantly, or they only record the tragedy instead of providing a real chance of preempting it.  Where security is required, it is not an additional duty.  Someone must proactively be in charge of security on a full-time basis.  Safety measures, training, and crisis procedures should still be a part of each school system’s security plan, but someone must be on the job full time.  Someone must have the stand-alone duty of security.  They may or may not have a security staff depending upon local circumstances.

We have two major balancing acts.  The first involves guns.  That is a constitutional question.  The liberty of the republic and the perceived security of those represented must be balanced with wisdom not more words of hatred screamed at the President.  If the will of the people is truly to change this fundamental document, there is a process.  It is a difficult process but not impossible as 26 Amendments to our Constitution have verified.  On average, that’s an amendment for every 10 years of our republic’s lifespan.  Yes, these changes come in seasons, but there is no reason to ignore the constitutional process based on emotional appeal.  The process still works so if the overwhelming majority of the nation truly desires change, the door is open.

The second balancing act requires no constitutional action.  It takes money and willpower.  Will we decide to secure our schools with some measure of a full-time security force?  Budgets are tight in most states.  More security means more expenditures.  Whether it comes from an already strained education budget or constantly underfunded law enforcement budget is not the question.  The question is:  Are we ready to pay to secure our schools?

The answers to both balancing acts will be irrelevant if we don’t address the underlying problem—the decayed condition of the human heart.  We do not value life in this country.  We kill babies in the womb.  We ignore the signs and music that say, “Kill all the cops" or "I'm gonna shoot up a school.”  Our movies and video games sell best when there is plenty of blood.

It is time to turn our hearts and our nation back to God.  We tried it without him for a few decades.  How’s that working for us?  God first gave these words to his chosen people, but they surely apply to us now more than ever.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Lord, Heal our land!

Please stop leveraging the pain of victims for something you have done nothing about for 228 years

It is time to stop the emotional appeals for more gun control based upon the most recent tragedies.  Each tragedy brings a call for consoling the victim’s families and those who hurt for them.  It is not the time to leverage their pain for your purpose.

How heartless!

No, this is compassion.  This is the time for prayer and healing not the cynical comments about the very things needed at those time.

If you want to change gun laws; change the Constitution.  You have had 228 years.  Present your facts, make your argument, and do what is required to change the Constitution.  It is not an easy process but the evidence of 27 amendments tell us that it is very much doable. Yes, 10 of them were ratified at once.  The last amendment took almost 203 years, but the process is there for the using.  Most take what most would consider a reasonable amount of time.

And now is the time to make your move.  Ignorance as to the purpose of the Second Amendment is at an all time high.  Emotions are high.  Understanding of a system designed to prevent tyranny is at an all-time low.  If gun control is your objective, start the process to amend the Constitution.

But with all of this violence, can’t we just ignore the Constitution just this once? 

It seems the cries for this grow louder each year, but they ignore our history and the consequences of setting aside the wisdom of our founders.  I don’t think there has ever been a more divinely inspired group of men in the history of the world who designed a system of government than our Founding Fathers.

Yeah, sure, what a bunch of high grandiose patriot-speak.  We need changes!

Hmm…  Let’s think about what happens when we ignore the Constitution.  The last declared war for this country was World War II.  We have not declared war in more than 75 years.  Can you believe it!  We have enjoyed 75 years of peace.

What?  We have not enjoyed 75 years of peace?  Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Beirut, Panama, two Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, the war on terror, and the occasional firefight in Libya or Syria happened without a declaration of war.

How can that be?  Only Congress can declare war!  The President can only make war in response to an attack, which in today’s fast paced environment would surely include the imminence of attack.  But these conditions were not applicable in Vietnam, Korea, or the Gulf Wars.

You counter, “But now we have the War Powers Resolution.”

Consider what value is an ordinary law such as what we most often call the War Powers Act if the Supreme Law of the Land—the Constitution is ignored.  This act did not clarify the Constitution.  It attempted to regain part of the authority of Congress that should have never been lost.

Back to guns.  If you want to enact new gun laws, then make your case for amending the Constitution first.  Realize that casualties from tragedies that involved firearms will be insufficient.  You must demonstrate that the republic will be as strong and as safe as it is with the Second Amendment intact.  You must convince the American people that they will never have to throw off a tyrannical government—ever. 

It is a tough challenge but an emotional appeal to bypass the Law of the Land is cheap publicity at the expense of hurting families.

Casualties—the cost of liberty—are sometimes high.  Consider the casualties of our own Civil War.  While it wasn’t all about slavery, owning a human being was not something that our nation could live with any longer.  It would have been less costly in American blood not to have engaged in this war, but we did, and we paid the price.

Was it worth it?  Few would say that they would rather have continued into this century with slavery.  But the price was high, very high in American blood.

The question that those who want gun control in a nation that preserves the right to bear arms at a foundational level have to answer is:  Has the cost in blood been too much?

They must answer this question in full.  They must account for the price we paid so that all people could enjoy liberty as free men and women and compare it to the price we pay for liberty by empowering the citizenry to throw off an unjust, tyrannical government. 

It’s a tough sell, especially among those who understand our system of government and know that liberty always comes at a price; but if you are serious about it, start the process.

In the meantime, quit leveraging the pain of victims of evil that resides in the hearts of a few.

For more on the purpose of the Second Amendment, read Paradox of Power.

It is the nature of our republic, that our domestic tranquility is afloat on a sea that separates revolution and tyranny.

Getting out of our government quagmire

Look at the news.  It’s same stuff, different day.  Our national leaders are at odds about everything.  Everyone has an agenda.  If you don’t agree with it, then you must be evil.  A little gridlock is not a bad thing, but gridlock as a way of life has become counterproductive.  How do our elected officials break this gridlock?

I think I know of something that we should all agree upon.  It is the Preamble to the Constitution.  It is sort of the mindset of our government—the why of everything that follows.  Perhaps it might get us moving towards something better than the quagmire that has sullied our statesmanship.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

More perfect union.  We have many different opinions but one Union.  Quit polarizing our nation.  Realize that you won’t get everything you want, but work together to maintain a strong union.  You all work for the same boss—the people of the United States.  We are tired of your dissension.

Establish justice.  Our justice system is surely the worst ever, except for those in other countries.  Yes, we have some problems, but ours is better than most man-made systems.  That means you have time to focus on other areas right now.

Insure domestic tranquility.  Knock off all the discussion about guns and gun laws.  The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunters or home defense.  This is the most basic element of liberty provided by our Constitution.  If we want to change something, then let’s have the national discussion and put forth an Amendment to repeal the Second Amendment, but only after we decide as a nation (it is intentionally difficult to amend our supreme law of the land and with good cause) that our government will never be too powerful and too abusive that we must do as our founding fathers did and overthrow it.  Yes, there is a higher price to pay for this liberty today than in the late 18^th century.  We don’t need laws to circumvent this amendment.  We need as a people to affirm it at its current price or repeal it.  Our government has circumvented our constitution too many times.  Change it, embrace it, but don’t ignore it.

Provide for the common defense.  Our service men and women are the very best in the world—the very best.  Our equipment, research and development, and pay should reflect this.  We should never again engage them in an undeclared war.  For over half a century, our nation has gone to war without the backbone to declare it and the mission of our federal government seems to have been to lessen the impact of our wars upon the general population instead of to engage the entire population in winning our declared wars.  War should never be our first course of action, but when we do declare war our enemies should tremble in fear all the way up to the day of their surrender.  NO MORE UNDECLARED WARS!  The Congress of the United States needs to grow a set and step up to their responsibility.  Arm chair quarterbacks are a dime a dozen (even cheaper among the legislature).  We elected men and women to lead, not to second guess. 

Promote the general welfare.  This has been misconstrued to getting everyone on welfare.  We need to get America back to work.  That means that both major parties must set aside their absolutes and do what is best for the American people.  None of you have all the answers.  Together, you have enough answers.  The American people sent you to work on their behalf.  Finger pointing and never-ending rebuttals and vitriolic banter don’t count as work.  Work together for the welfare of our nation or file for unemployment because you are not doing the job for which we hired you.  Promote the general welfare or find yourself on welfare.

Preserve the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.  Tell all special interest groups to take a hike.  They are looking out for their own interests.  You were sent to look out for ours.  If every decision other than giving yourselves a raise each year results in brinkmanship, this union will not continue.  Will you let it crumble on your watch?  It is time to put aside partisan politics and put on the clothing of statesmanship.

Actually, that time has come and gone.  You need to play catch-up.  Realize that we have trusted you with our liberty and the liberty of our grandchildren.  Right now you are getting a D- in the trust department.  That dog don’t hunt!

Remember that our fathers not only established this wonderful constitution; they ordained it.  It is set apart from all the other laws of the land, and if we would look at the magnitude of its purpose and scope, we would see that it is set apart from every other man-made law on the planet.

It is time to live up to the expectations of the electorate and those who ordained this more perfect union.