Don’t take our guns (votes)
In the North America of 250 years ago, there were 13 colonies below Canada – “states” they called themselves. They formed a confederation in order to oppose Britain, and then united under the Constitution.
But it wasn’t easy. Each state had its own way of life, and wanted to preserve it. In particular, they didn’t want other states passing laws declaring their customs illegal — especially the enslavement of Africans stolen from their homelands. So on December 15 1791, 10 amendments were added. The second one guaranteed the states the right to maintain a militia, presumably to defend themselves against other states, or against the union itself.
Until recently, the Second Amendment was never applied to individuals. The Supreme Court has weighed in several times on this matter. In 1894, Miller v. Texas decided a state could prohibit individuals from owning dangerous weapons. In 1933, U.S. v. Miller (different Miller) decided Texas could ban sawed-off shotguns, because letting individuals carry them didn’t benefit state militias.
However, in 2008, the tide turned. In D.C. v. Heller, the court held an individual had a Second Amendment right to carry a concealed weapon. And in 2016 in Caetano v. Massachusetts, the court ruled a woman had a Second Amendment right to carry a stun gun. Subsequent rulings have further expanded the interpretation of the Second Amendment to mean anyone can own as many weapons of any kind as they wish.
The result is the highest rate of gun-related violence of any country on Earth. The National Rifle Association has encouraged gun ownership for no reason other than to help gun manufacturers sell more product. Lunatics with guns enter schools and murder children, and until they step onto the schoolyard, they haven’t broken any laws. They’re perfectly within their rights to own the weapons they use in their murderous rampages.
Our country was created by armed violence — the American Revolution. But since then, we’ve used peaceful means to settle our differences. Courts and elections are the weapons we use to achieve justice. Voting is the weapon we use to oppose tyranny — our weapon of mass instruction.
Donald Trump famously said if everyone voted, the Republicans would never win another election. That’s the reason for moe than 400 state laws passed so far to reduce voting by voters that would presumably vote for Democrats. That’s the reason they want to suppress your right to vote.
Starting in 2010, the Republican Party made it their business to restrict voting by people who would likely oppose their candidates. The Koch Brothers financed a scheme to take over the legislatures of five swing states and gerrymander their congressional districts so as to virtually guarantee majorities in Congressional elections, and to allow the resulting theft of those states’ electoral votes. That was why 2016 happened: They took away our guns.
Voting is our only weapon to ensure justice for the majority of Americans. It’s the weapon Americans use to fight tyranny. Without it, we have no recourse other than the violence that seized our country in 1776, and again in 1861.
Is that really what you want?
Les Pinter is a contributing columnist and a Springville resident. His column appears weekly in The Recorder. Pinter’s new book, HTTPV: How a Grocery Shopping Website Can Save America, is available in both Kindle and hardcopy formats on Amazon.com.