The heinous mass murder of eighteen innocent people by a madman in Maine has once again called into question the right of Americans to bear arms. How many mass shootings must we have before we implement and enforce significant gun restrictions, many understandably ponder.
The shootings go on without significant reforms because, like so many issues in America, the extreme left and extreme right are in control, leaving the vast majority of Americans without a voice. The left demands that we ban guns entirely, as most recently expressed by Vice President Kamala Harris, who pointed to Australia as the model to follow. Fearing this objective, the extreme right fights any new restrictions, arguing they are a slippery slope to a full ban.
The truth is a ban is not going to happen. An individual’s right to own a gun is enshrined in our Constitution, and thus would require a Constitutional Amendment to change. But like most rights, this one is subject to reasonable restrictions. Today, they are called for more than ever.
When our founders adopted the Bill of Rights providing, among other rights, that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” America was a far different country. It had just cast off an oppressive, tyrannical government. It was a fledgling democracy, in the process of implementing a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
It had defeated Great Britain through the use of arms. After the war, no one called for the confiscation of peoples’ muskets. They took them home and kept them there. Americans intended to remain prepared in case someone came to take away their hard-earned liberty, whether it be their own government, domestic enemies, or a foreign government.
The country had fewer than four million people. Communities were much closer and families much tighter. Christianity was central to most lives, which including a healthy fear of God. In short, it looked nothing like today’s America.
We are now far removed from thoughts of a revolution or the need to fight off a domestic or foreign adversary. Further, guns are now of limited value for that purpose. Except perhaps for canons, guns were the deadliest weapon at the time of our founding. Today, governments have bombs, tanks, planes, missiles, and nukes.
In addition, we have seen the most effective coups and revolutions of late carried out without guns. It turns out the best way to bring down a tyrannical government is through mass protests. We saw this during the Arab Spring in places like Egypt and Tunisia, and also in Ukraine. Guns were not central to any of these successful uprisings.
In America, the Jan. 6 Capitol riots are commonly called an “insurrection” despite the lack of a single gun involved. While referring to it as an insurrection is absurd, it nonetheless demonstrated what can be done without guns.
Combine this with the fact that guns are far deadlier today, and the result is that guns are far more dangerous in the peoples’ hands today than they were 250 years ago. Americans are far less responsible today than we were at our founding, and guns have lost their effectiveness. Thus, more than ever it is time to take significant measures to keep assault rifles out of the hands of mentally disturbed people.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, confirming that Americans have an individual right to own a gun. His decision was vilified by the left who argue the Second Amendment contains no such right. But even Justice Scalia noted that reasonable limits may be placed on those rights. He wrote, “Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill.”
Justice Scalia also made clear that reasonable limits may be placed on the types of guns allowed. He noted that the Second Amendment applies to weapons “in common use at the time” of the founding and there may be reasonable restrictions “prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.”
I wish American communities and families were as strong as they were at our founding, and I wish modern weapons of war had never been invented. But we must acknowledge the new reality and implement and vigorously enforce the reasonable restrictions laid out by Justice Scalia. Unfortunately, 21st century America requires it.
