Sunday 1 April 2018

Gun Control: Shooting at the wrong targets


Every death is a tragedy and mass murders are an abomination. The latest student shooting in Florida has triggered a youth movement for gun control. While it is important to have laws, we must also understand the constitution and property rights. Exploitation of a tragedy and using children for political gain is not the right way to make constitutional changes.


There is no doubt that the U.S has the greatest number of reported shootings, but most of it is done either by criminals or police on criminals. Chicago has the largest number of black on black shootings in the country. The racial divided also contributes to much of the shootings. In many cases of police shootings it is quite clear that many victims, who happen to be black, rarely stop when called upon to do so by the police. Gangs who do not use legal firearms shoot each other or innocent by-standers. Terrorists and criminals use guns which they acquire illegally.

In my view, there is no doubt that semi-automatic guns cause a lot of damage, and assault weapons should be regulated in some way. President Trump has put forward a number of suggestions including the prohibition of bump stocks and perhaps a 21 year age limit for owners. I agree with the regulation of assault weapons, but do not agree with the age limit. If a government can place a gun in the hands of an 18 year old to go to war, why should he not be able to own a gun legally? Furthermore, most mass shootings or school attacks are used to attempt a change in the laws, but rarely do all the relevant facts taken into consideration or form part of the debate.

To start with, why is the mental state of a shooter always comes to the fore when there is a terrorist attack, but rarely when there is a school shooting? There is also a common thread in those school shootings, the perpetrator is always a loner, or is from a one parent family. The breakdown of the family and the increase of children without a father figure tend to be on the increase and too often contribute to lawlessness as well as mental issues. Schools and teachers have become the guardian of many children, which leads us to the very disturbing issue of control.

The United States Constitution is quite clear on gun ownership under the Second Amendment which states:     ‘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. The problem is that the law was written hundreds of years ago and firearms have changed from the one bullet black powder gun to automatic and semi-automatic firearms that fires dozens of bullets in seconds. The Left has always been against the ownership of firearms and at every opportunity they have attempted to change the law. This time the youth movement organizers of the ‘March for our lives’ seem to be supported by the Democrats. It is quite apparent that these high school students could not have organized these protest marches without the financial help of some organizations with deep pockets
The second amendment came about because many in the Founding generation believed that governments are prone to use soldiers to oppress the people. While we may live under different circumstances, one may also believe that the Left would want to control guns for a different purpose than stopping crime. Oppression comes about with the help of the military, indoctrination is done through education. While no democratic government is openly trying to oppress the people by military rule, it is becoming quite apparent that our education system is being used, for the past two decades, to indoctrinate the youth.

General studies used to be a class where students were taught civics and other subjects, Today social studies are all about social justice, gender identity, Islamophobia but not Christianophobia, climate change, open borders and sanctuary cities, the dangers of ‘white privilege’ political correctness and other socialist curriculum. It seems to me that students today are being brainwashed by a cabal of leftist teachers using Soviet style state indoctrination. Universities have taken the steps to punish professors and students who have different views different from their leftist agenda. Freedom of speech in many cases is being stifled in institutions of higher learning. Therefore the system produces teachers who have only one view and thus profess collectivism over individualism.

The left has been working on this plan of indoctrination for decades and they are succeeding. Trudeau’s election in Canada is further proof of this trend. The uprising of students affected by the Florida shootings is a manifestation of this trend. I give credit to any young person who takes a stand, but they must also be aware of being used for a much larger agenda. I am worried when I see four year old kids marching to stop the sale of guns or changing laws that may affect property rights. Canada already has a system to be trained before owning a gun, we already have restrictions on the type of guns that can be owned. The Trudeau government is using the “March for our lives’ to mobilize its supporters to make changes to existing gun ownership laws. Most of the protesters have no idea about the law or the rights of others. The majority of gun owners are hunters, sports enthusiasts, and are law abiding citizens, and they should not be placed in the same category of criminals who in most case possess illegal guns. By the way countries like Switzerland who have many guns have less shootings, contrast this with Honduras which has fewer guns but 20 times the murder rate of the U.S.

Be very careful; students marching in Washington and many other cities around the world, is not about guns. It is about the exploitation of our youths into the furtherance of a socialist agenda. What is the next step: Children reporting their parents? There is a need for a discussion about guns, and shootings, but we must also take a deep breath before we start shooting in the dark and abolishing people’s rights and implementing a socialist agenda through the back door.