By: Daniel Nardini
Personally, I believe any individual, with the exception minors, people with mental health issues, and with criminal backgrounds, should be able to own a firearm if that is their desire. Despite what so many Liberal politicians say, the Second Amendment is very clear on the right of any individual being able to own a gun—this right has been affirmed time and again by the U.S. Supreme Court. There is nothing U.S. President Barack Obama or any other Democratic politician can do to change this central fact. From what I have seen of Obama’s proposals for gun registration (really not control since “control” means that the government actually has complete and total ownership over what weapons each and every American can own and how many they can own which is not the case), the legislation would ban assault rifles and close the loopholes for going through a federal background check for owning a firearm. I see nothing seriously wrong with these proposals (although I do have a beef with one where doctors would be required to ask if a patient owns a firearm or not. This is not a violation of the Second Amendment, but a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution).
Even with these modest proposals, I hear from some individuals that the U.S. government is “coming for our guns.” In my view, this is unlikely. The sheer number of people the U.S. government would have to take firearms away from would be almost incalculable. Here is some data on why it would be impractical for the U.S. government to take away all the guns. Federal and state law enforcement own four million firearms. American civilian ownership of firearms comes (estimated) to 310 million guns. And we are talking about every type of firearm imaginable—handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, and even semi-automatic machine guns. Even if the U.S. government was to ban the sale, importation and possession of assault rifles for civilian gun owners, the law would have to include an exemption for those current gun owners who have assault rifles in their possession. Otherwise, the U.S. government would have to take away assault rifles from millions of owners. You can imagine the bloodshed that would result from trying to do this! If you consider the sheer number of civilian gun owners in this country, the state and federal authorities are out-gunned by a factor of 79-1.
The United States is one of three countries in the world with a very, very high percentage of civilian gun ownership per person. The only other three countries I know of with so many individuals owning or possessing firearms per person are Afghanistan, Switzerland and Israel. So if a rebellion were to ever get underway in this country, you can be sure that they would have a LOT of firepower. The claim that an armed citizenry is a safe citizenry may not be inaccurate after all. And the fact that so many Americans have guns for whatever reason pretty much ensures that the U.S. government will not try to institute a one-party dictatorship anytime soon. From what I see, we may become a divided country on the basis of what our political views are and our social standing in society is. From what I see, we are becoming a divided country on the basis of what we believe in, where we live, and what our class is. How we view gun ownership will simply be one more thing that will divide us as a people.
Coming for Your Guns?
By: Daniel Nardini
Even with these modest proposals, I hear from some individuals that the U.S. government is “coming for our guns.” In my view, this is unlikely. The sheer number of people the U.S. government would have to take firearms away from would be almost incalculable. Here is some data on why it would be impractical for the U.S. government to take away all the guns. Federal and state law enforcement own four million firearms. American civilian ownership of firearms comes (estimated) to 310 million guns. And we are talking about every type of firearm imaginable—handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, and even semi-automatic machine guns. Even if the U.S. government was to ban the sale, importation and possession of assault rifles for civilian gun owners, the law would have to include an exemption for those current gun owners who have assault rifles in their possession. Otherwise, the U.S. government would have to take away assault rifles from millions of owners. You can imagine the bloodshed that would result from trying to do this! If you consider the sheer number of civilian gun owners in this country, the state and federal authorities are out-gunned by a factor of 79-1.
The United States is one of three countries in the world with a very, very high percentage of civilian gun ownership per person. The only other three countries I know of with so many individuals owning or possessing firearms per person are Afghanistan, Switzerland and Israel. So if a rebellion were to ever get underway in this country, you can be sure that they would have a LOT of firepower. The claim that an armed citizenry is a safe citizenry may not be inaccurate after all. And the fact that so many Americans have guns for whatever reason pretty much ensures that the U.S. government will not try to institute a one-party dictatorship anytime soon. From what I see, we may become a divided country on the basis of what our political views are and our social standing in society is. From what I see, we are becoming a divided country on the basis of what we believe in, where we live, and what our class is. How we view gun ownership will simply be one more thing that will divide us as a people.