Is the 2nd Amendment still relative in a modern society?

A well regulated militia is part of the 2nd Amendment

 The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "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."

In a city of over 8.4 million people, “hundreds” marched this past week across New York City’s Brooklyn Bride to protest… owning guns.  It’s the 3^rd year in a row the group (Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America) has staged the march.

Let’s take a rational look at some of the info that was stated as hard fact by the media.  According to the CDC 80 gun deaths happen every day in the USA.  What?  That is a staggering number of murders!  My first impression was that we should do something until I read that the FBI stated “61% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. are suicides.”  Wait, so 2 out of 3 deaths by guns are self-inflicted?  That changes everything, right?  Danged math!

I am reminded of what a Russian truck driver told me one day, “In Russia, when we want to kill someone, we use a hammer.”  The poor security cop at the Houston area Wal-mart was stabbed 14 times by a zealot with a large hunting knife.  A Washington D. C. cop was attacked by a misguided religious fool with an axe.  The guns, the axes, the knives, and the hammers are all safe in the right hands.

I grew up post WWII in a house with guns.  My older sister and 3 younger brothers knew about the guns, where they were kept, and where the ammunition was.  I never touched them and neither did they.  My dad was a hunter and I shot my first game when I was in the 5^th grade.  By the time I was in the 9^th grade, we moved to a remote area and I got my 1^st shotgun; a 12 gauge single shot.

My younger brother, who was more mature than I, got one also.  My dad warned us to not load the shotguns until we had arrived at the place we would hunt and to “keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction” and we did.   Other than one time when we borrowed 2 “Spanish-made” double barrel defective shotguns, we never had an issue, but that’s another story.

By the time I qualified on the rifle range at Lackland Air Force base, hitting the target 86 times out of a hundred (the last 20 were on full automatic) I was well versed in the use of a firearm.  I’ve also had a concealed handgun permit for the last 10 years or so.  The weirdest thing about all of this is I’ve never fired a weapon in anger, or had a brush with the law.

You see folks; guns are not the real problem here.  People are - especially criminal people.  Criminals don’t procure their firearms at Wal-mart, Academy, or gun shows.  They get them through “fences” or by stealing.  If we disarm America, only criminals and cops will have guns and I’ll wager there are far more criminals than cops.  No thanks!

Just like the illegal drug trade, there is a lot of sweet moola to be made selling guns.  When I lived for a short spell in Highlands, I went squirrel hunting and came back and in my garage, I set 5 guns out to clean them.  I used a .22 and a shotgun on the trip, but decided I would do a once over on all my guns.  While I was in the house, someone stole all 5…

Within a month another person stole a number of firearms from my brothers locked house also.  Where did these guns go?  Should the government force everyone with a firearm to own a safe?  I think not, but both thefts woke us up.  We are far more careful now.

"We have more gun-related deaths than any other developed country. Gun deaths now outpace traffic fatalities in our country," said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY. "It may take years, it may take decades, but the tens of thousands who senselessly lost their lives at the barrel of a gun will not be forgotten."

Uh, Representative Maloney?  You do realize this is because guns are banned almost everywhere but here right?  In other countries they use tools and knives to kill each other.  And by the way, why would it take years and decades to not forget people killed by guns?  Also the claim of auto-related versus gun-related deaths is not true.  Dang math again!

I also detest the Democratic Party for constantly harping on this, when a great deal of these actual gun-related crimes happen in heavily Democratic Party voting demographics.  Do the math if you think I am wrong.  Why don’t they expend their energy on educating the public instead?  Oh yea, I forgot.  There are a lot of voters in these regions and they don’t need background checks to get all guns their money can buy. 

I have genuine empathy for those who have lost loved ones by people committing crimes with guns and as someone who lost a son due to the violence he experienced in Iraq, I can say that with conviction.  I do however believe the 2^nd Amendment of the constitution is still valid.  As a law-abiding citizen, I not only want to retain the right to arm myself against criminal intent, but also en masse (state militia) against our federal government if it comes to that.  After all, wasn’t that the original intent of the writers?

California Militia Men
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