Presented without comment:
While wise men crafted what many today consider as a brilliant and enduring blueprint for a new nation, they were products of their times with individual human shortcomings and biases.
Just coming off a war of independence against one of the world’s great colonial powers, it was reasonable to expect the leaders to ensure people the capability of defending themselves against any potentially tyrannical government. In this regard, they established the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights granting people “the right to bear arms.”
Since then, firearms and their supporting culture have been encoded into the very DNA of U.S.-American identity and what it means to be “an American.” But what may have been “reasonable” in the 18th century, without substantial reform, ranks as unreasonable today. …
With the relatively easy access to firearms in the United States, few of us have not already been touched by the ravages of gun violence. Hardly a day goes by that we hear of yet another high visibility mass shooting, which doesn’t even begin to reflect the seemingly countless number of lives taken in small towns and large cities throughout the nation that never make it to the national spotlight.
What will it take for us to cease fighting insanity with insanity? How many more of our precious people of all ages will have their lives cut short under the banner of the “freedom to bear arms”?
What will it take for us to reverse the unholy alliance between corporate America and powerful pressure groups controlling politicians in the service of firearms manufacturers?
When is enough, enough?!
– Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld in How do we stop shootings when gun culture is encoded into the DNA of American identity?
“We pledge allegiance to the manufacturers and the NRA of America, and to the campaign funds for which they give, one notion under God, unconditional, with denial and defiance for all.” The Pledge Taken by Too Many Politicians
— Warren J. Blumenfeld (@wblumen) April 6, 2019