By ANDREW ROSENTHAL
The modern drive against gun control started with an expansive
interpretation of the Second Amendment as bestowing an absolute,
individual right to "keep" and "bear" arms, rather than a societal
right based on the need for a "well-regulated militia."
But we are now in a new and dangerous phase of the gun movement, in
which extremists led by the National Rifle Association are pushing
beyond "keep" and "bear" to "use." They are pressing state and federal
lawmakers to make it easier for people to shoot other people.
As Erica Goode reported in today's Times, the killing of Trayvon
Martin by an armed vigilante in Florida has focused attention on the
successful campaign by the N.R.A. and the American Legislative
Exchange Council, a right-wing lobbying group, to pass "stand your
ground" laws in more than two dozen states in recent years.
In 2011, Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin worked with both of those
groups to pass a bill that started out as an effort to make it harder
to prosecute someone who used deadly force against an intruder in his
home – but then morphed into a license to kill that applies on lawns,
sidewalks and swimming pools outside the residence, as well as
vehicles and places of business.
Part of what makes this effort so insidious is that it is largely a
solution in search of a problem. All states have long upheld some
version of the so-called Castle Doctrine (which comes from the old saw
about a man's home being one), granting individuals the right to
protect themselves against intruders. Historically, this was often
coupled with a "duty to retreat" before resorting to lethal force,
which seems perfectly reasonable. Why end someone's life if it's not
absolutely necessary?
There is no epidemic of homeowners going to jail after defending
themselves from a break-in. On the contrary, juries are often
extremely lenient. In Colorado more than 30 years ago, I covered a
trial in which an Iranian student was acquitted after he shot and
killed a 15-year-old with a deer rifle, from his balcony, across the
parking lot of his apartment complex, at night, because he thought the
youth and his friends had thrown a bomb through his window.
This ought to be a good time for a discussion about gun control. But
the N.R.A. starts its national convention tomorrow in St. Louis, Mo.,
and you can be sure there will be no such discussion. Only
triumphalist statements of progress in the fight against sensible gun
control and dire talk about how we're all at risk of someone bursting
into our homes—or swimming pools—at any minute.
They certainly will not discuss these statistics, compiled by the
Violence Policy Center, on the homicide rate for African Americans,
which is more than three times the overall homicide rate. The
overwhelming majority of victims are killed by guns, and the majority
of those are killed by handguns. Missouri leads the nation in this
appalling statistic.
More:
http://loyalopposition.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/keep-bear-and-use/?ref=opinion
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment