I want to call attention to the nonsense that is the advisory referendum to repeal the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and dispel some myths and assumptions that have been in the Viewpoints section lately.
The 2nd Amendment was written specifically for the right of citizens to bear arms. The National Guard is not a militia; it is controlled by the state government and subject to federal control when necessary. In fact if you go back and read quotes, letters, and books by many of the Founding Fathers like Washington, Jefferson, both John and JQ Adams, Mason, Franklin, and Webster, you will realize that is exactly what they meant.
In fact they felt so strongly about the 2nd Amendment that it’s part of the Bill of Rights and was meant to preserve the rest, yet we have to deal with the fear and ignorance of the anti-gun mob.
The two key Supreme Court decisions got it right in DC v Heller, which of course would explain President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, who, as an Appellate Court judge, voted against Heller and McDonald v Chicago.
Now here is the point where all the gun control arguments fail. When the “assault weapons” ban expired, it was not reinstated because it was useless. It had no measurable effect in reducing crime. When the handgun bans were rightfully struck down and concealed carry was a reality in Illinois, none of the “Wild West”-type shootouts took place that the anti-gun mob raged about.
The current wave of violence in Chicago and Cook County is being committed by criminals with illegally obtained firearms, which the Trojan Horse use of “universal background checks” (that was not going to happen) referendum that led to the “assault-style” rifle and high capacity magazine ban also proved useless. The Crook, er, Cook County taxes on firearm and ammo purchases is not about reducing crime, just about more money for the Democrat Machine, which has been grossly incompetent at solving the real problems.
The Australian gun confiscation is another case in point. It resulted in a short-term modest, not drastic, reduction in crime, yet by 2012 a huge black market trafficking in firearms has arisen and the crime rates have skyrocketed in urban areas like Melbourne, fueled by the illegal guns obtained by criminals.
There are millions of responsible gun owners in the U.S. and if we were the problem you would know it. When it comes to gun control, I think we actually need to go in the opposite direction. The restrictions in states like CA, CT, MA, NJ, and NY are clearly an infringement of the 2nd Amendment. California has the most ludicrous restrictions in the U.S. and yet don’t stop the violence in Oakland or Compton and couldn’t prevent a terrorist attack in San Bernardino.
Every time the anti-gun mob quotes stats, they like to throw in the suicides and accidents to boost their claims because suicides make up the majority of gun deaths (2/3) and when you remove these figures the U.S. drops significantly in the international gun death stats.
Fear and ignorance replace truth and clear thinking when people find an issue that they hot button yet don’t fully understand.
Emerson Bolen is a resident of River Forest.