Washington, DC – In the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, the first official document of the nascent United States of America, these words were chosen to put forth a philosophy and parameter for governance: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The choice of the word “men” was chosen by a group of wealthy white men.
We need a constitutional amendment to define what a “person” is. We also need to repeal the grossly mistakenly interpreted 2nd amendment or change it.
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be abridged.” The Second Amendment of the United States of America Constitution, was ratified in 1791, 231 years ago. At that time, although the Citizenship clause stated, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” It didn’t really mean that to the men who wrote it.
Clearly, the word person there did not include women or slaves who apparently, not enjoying the same rights and privileges as others, were not considered “persons .”Today, non-corporeal corporations “are people too: according to Mitt Romney.
We, the “people,” are rightly confused. Some states want to give citizenship to a newly formed multi-celled zygote while at the same time denying the owner of the womb wherein that zygote resides the right to decide questions about her life, effectively prioritizing the zygote’s rights over, once again, the woman.
Gun-making companies have been exempted from any responsibility for the use of their products and, since the ban on assault weapons has expired, have to great profit, been flooding our markets with those horrific tools of war.
Back to the “unborn children” that some want to prioritize over the women wherein they reside. A person bearing the aforementioned assault weapons, chose to murder, at last count, 19 living, breathing 4th graders and their teachers just this week. Children have been killed sitting in their beds, walking down the street, or sitting in their classrooms. Music events. Swap markets, movie theaters, shopping centers, places of worship of Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jewish, and just about anywhere living walking around folks are, have been places of assault.
At what point do we broaden the “right to life” to include already born people? Accidental and suicidal deaths are another largely ignored aspect of the gun crisis. It is said that guns don’t kill people, but it is people with guns that kill people. Guns properly locked up or properly used don’t result in 2-year-olds shooting their mothers. It is the ubiquity of these deadly objects, whose only purpose is to harm or kill, that is the problem we face.
The “Well regulated” part of the amendment has been completely ignored. We have a free for all of gun-toting, untrained, irresponsible people. The red herring of mental health gives cover to the wholly corrupt elected officials at every level to avoid tackling this plague. We need to “well regulate” gun ownership or simply remove the second amendment from the Constitution and, while we are at it, put in a definition of a “person” as a flesh and blood homo sapiens of all genders who has already been born.
Living human beings should be the priority. Keeping them alive and well needs to be the goal. The rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness desperately need to be protected for living human beings. When we prioritize the right to carry around weapons of mass destruction or the protection of a zygote over the lives of those already living and desiring to continue to do so, we negate the very meaning of those rights.
Side Bar: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun unless the good guys with guns are too afraid to do anything for an hour or so while little kids are calling 911 and begging for help and the governor is spouting nonsense. The babies were lonely and dying in the Lone Star State.