The Second Amendment
Jan. 26th, 2011 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teleen_fictionThe Second Amendment to the US Constitution reads, "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 infringed."
I did a report on the Second Amendment in high school, at the end of which I concluded that gun control laws only keep guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. I'm pro-gun, own three guns myself (one of whom has a 15-shot magazine, which was one of the ones banned from being manufactured under the Assault Weapons Ban) and have for years tried to find an anti-gun argument because I'm basically liberal on everything but guns and animal rights and somehow it seemed... wrong.
Something came into my head recently, though, and it won't go away.
When I was sixteen, in order to legally get my driver's license in Ohio, I not only had to pass a driving test, I had to complete a driver's education course. Now, eighteen-year-olds can just take the test, but even so:
To drive a car, I had to pass a test showing that I was capable of operating it competently. No such test is required before owning a gun and while I consider a car to be a lethal weapon, a car is not expressly designed for the purposes of ending life (animal or human, that's what a gun is for) and yet I have to pass a test to drive one.
All I had to to do get a gun was wait the waiting period and there was no waiting period for my shotgun. On my eighteenth birthday, I was able to walk out of a gun store with a 12-gauge and ammo for same without passing a test of any kind.
My dad bought me my 9mm Beretta that same day. I paid for it, but he bought it for me and waited the waiting period for me. I took a gun safety class with him after we each took possession of our respective handguns, but neither of us had to take that class.
To review - I was not legally allowed to buy a handgun, but still had one at eighteen and had to pass no requirements whatsoever to own it.
This is not cool. I'm as pro-gun as they come, but it's utterly disgusting that we have more requirements for driving a car than owning a lethal weapon.
I'm thinking of going for my concealed weapons permit, which does require classes. Even if I do it, I'm not sure if I'd ever actually carry a gun anywhere. Oh, and I have to say that it really blew my mind when I found out that one could carry a gun in AZ without a permit. Which means that until he opened fire, the man who shot Christina Taylor Green was doing nothing illegal.
I love my guns. I love going shooting and killing paper targets. However, it's taken me years to be comfortable with my guns and I still wouldn't dream of keeping them loaded or carrying one anywhere, because they are lethal weapons that I basically only have because I think that everyone should have a gun just in case of Bad Things. What bad things? Difficult to say. Right now, zombies are my main fear.
I don't mean to be flippant, because this is a very serious subject, but for me it's an honest epiphany. I own three lethal weapons and had to have zero training to legally be allowed to go to a range and use them. Or kill a burglar. I'm making that distinction because I think it's technically legal in some places to own a car without a license - you just can't drive it anywhere.
But I can own a gun without having the slightest clue how to use it. In fact, for years that was what happened. My shotgun was never fired (and I had no clue how to use it properly) until my uncle in TN showed me how one winter when I was visiting for Christmas. In fact, he's the one that made me comfortable with guns. Too bad he's the husband of anti-BGLTQP aunt, :(.
Digressions aside, I wonder how many gun owners out there have no fucking clue how to handle one properly? I also wonder how many other asshats who never should be near a Nerf gun will be legally sold guns because the mental health registries that gun stores use for background checks are so backed up?
And I wonder how long we, as a society, will continue to allow people to purchase weapons who have no idea of which end is the dangerous one. The more I think about it, the more I want to invest in Kevlar. Lots of Kevlar.
I did a report on the Second Amendment in high school, at the end of which I concluded that gun control laws only keep guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. I'm pro-gun, own three guns myself (one of whom has a 15-shot magazine, which was one of the ones banned from being manufactured under the Assault Weapons Ban) and have for years tried to find an anti-gun argument because I'm basically liberal on everything but guns and animal rights and somehow it seemed... wrong.
Something came into my head recently, though, and it won't go away.
When I was sixteen, in order to legally get my driver's license in Ohio, I not only had to pass a driving test, I had to complete a driver's education course. Now, eighteen-year-olds can just take the test, but even so:
To drive a car, I had to pass a test showing that I was capable of operating it competently. No such test is required before owning a gun and while I consider a car to be a lethal weapon, a car is not expressly designed for the purposes of ending life (animal or human, that's what a gun is for) and yet I have to pass a test to drive one.
All I had to to do get a gun was wait the waiting period and there was no waiting period for my shotgun. On my eighteenth birthday, I was able to walk out of a gun store with a 12-gauge and ammo for same without passing a test of any kind.
My dad bought me my 9mm Beretta that same day. I paid for it, but he bought it for me and waited the waiting period for me. I took a gun safety class with him after we each took possession of our respective handguns, but neither of us had to take that class.
To review - I was not legally allowed to buy a handgun, but still had one at eighteen and had to pass no requirements whatsoever to own it.
This is not cool. I'm as pro-gun as they come, but it's utterly disgusting that we have more requirements for driving a car than owning a lethal weapon.
I'm thinking of going for my concealed weapons permit, which does require classes. Even if I do it, I'm not sure if I'd ever actually carry a gun anywhere. Oh, and I have to say that it really blew my mind when I found out that one could carry a gun in AZ without a permit. Which means that until he opened fire, the man who shot Christina Taylor Green was doing nothing illegal.
I love my guns. I love going shooting and killing paper targets. However, it's taken me years to be comfortable with my guns and I still wouldn't dream of keeping them loaded or carrying one anywhere, because they are lethal weapons that I basically only have because I think that everyone should have a gun just in case of Bad Things. What bad things? Difficult to say. Right now, zombies are my main fear.
I don't mean to be flippant, because this is a very serious subject, but for me it's an honest epiphany. I own three lethal weapons and had to have zero training to legally be allowed to go to a range and use them. Or kill a burglar. I'm making that distinction because I think it's technically legal in some places to own a car without a license - you just can't drive it anywhere.
But I can own a gun without having the slightest clue how to use it. In fact, for years that was what happened. My shotgun was never fired (and I had no clue how to use it properly) until my uncle in TN showed me how one winter when I was visiting for Christmas. In fact, he's the one that made me comfortable with guns. Too bad he's the husband of anti-BGLTQP aunt, :(.
Digressions aside, I wonder how many gun owners out there have no fucking clue how to handle one properly? I also wonder how many other asshats who never should be near a Nerf gun will be legally sold guns because the mental health registries that gun stores use for background checks are so backed up?
And I wonder how long we, as a society, will continue to allow people to purchase weapons who have no idea of which end is the dangerous one. The more I think about it, the more I want to invest in Kevlar. Lots of Kevlar.
