I typically write about this country’s gun violence prevention issue. Let me lay out the positions of the Right, Left, and Center as less hopelessly acrimonious and more positively conciliatory.
Unlike most “gun rights” groups, I believe some individuals should not have the right to bear arms: the mentally ill and felons, and domestic violence perpetrators who commit misdemeanors. Even eighteenth-century peace officers were authorized to “lock up lunatics” who were dangerous with guns. As they say, “guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”
Most “gun control” groups would probably retort by yelling, “Yes, but guns are the instruments of death!” Still, gun collecting, and using guns for hunting, sport, and marksmanship, are legitimate hobbies and pastimes. Besides, we need responsible private citizens who own guns to safeguard against the threat of a potentially tyrannical government.
Those groups in the Center might say, “Gun violence threatens public safety.” For the police to enforce the laws, and for the military to provide national defense, both require the right to bear arms. And the entire criminal justice system—i.e., courts, district attorney’s office and public defenders—must proceed in lockstep to be tough but fair on gun violence perpetrators.
J.J.
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