March 31, 2023
I recently wrote an essay suggesting that each State militia be circumscribed by a Congressional District, and, for each State militia to keep a registry of all gun ownership in that District as all gun owners will have to be part of a well-organized militia (per the 2nd Amendment). (See: A Well Organized Militia)
But the most recent shooting at a Nashville Church School — and the Republican response of expanding gun ownership so that more Americans can \”carry\” — has me realizing that there will never be a civilized answer to US gun violence. Prescribing the symptom won\’t work on this large of a scale.
The Wife and I are now looking for a permanent \”safe country\” (like a safe house) where gun ownership is forbidden. Here\’s a tentative list I came up with (there appears to be about 17 of these gun free countries):
Brunei; Cambodia; Comoros; Eritrea; Fiji; Guinea-Bisseau; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Myanmar (except for Chin people); Nauru; North Korea; Palau; Seychelles; Solomon Islands; Somalia; Timor-Leste; Vatican City/Holy See.
I checked off a number of these possible safe countries because they are either very poor; or, they have a dictator in charge. Unfortunately, the two most appealing locations, the Maldives and the Seychelles, could be underwater soon — as the highest point in the Seychelles is a mere 6 feet above sea level — which rising sea levels could swamp very quickly. The Maldives is also a Muslim nation — so I would have to make sure that I We don\’t live near a blaring loudspeaker. I will have time to research some of the other locales I am unfamiliar with (but I\’m pretty sure Fiji is too expensive for an educator\’s pension).
I\’m glad I got out of teaching when I did. It was very stressful lecturing to students and wondering (in the back of our minds) whether this would be the day some crazy asshole would cash in our chips. I feel for the millions of students who are trying to be edified in the hopes of securing well paying jobs AND the hundreds-of-thousands of education personnel who still must make a living (a rather ironic comment if you can die on the job) working in our schools and universities.
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Can you imagine waking up in a world where no one owned a gun — and that if they had to kill someone they\’d have to attack with a knife or a rock or baseball bat and give bystanders or an armed police force a greater chance of nipping a potential massacre in the bud?
Or, how about a world in which all guns in a congressional district were registered by the militia members and kept under lock-and-key at a given shooting range (as I intimated earlier)? Gun owners would have to practice their shooting at least twice-a-month to stay in solid shooting shape for the next British invasion.
This model seems to work for other countries purporting to be civilized.
Ammunition would — of course — be purchased at the shooting range. Gun and ammunition manufacturers would still make good money — and there would be no guns on the street except for those possessed by the police, the National Guard, the CIA, Homeland Security and the FBI (and any other governmental agency that requires guns — like the Border Patrol).
Yet sadly, it appears that gun violence is inseparable from our American Non-Culture — and things will only become worse until such time that the Halls of Power are sufficiently shaken to make some type of lasting, constructive change.
US are that \”rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born.\” I mean only in America do you get treated to car or pharmaceutical or life insurance commercials after some pundit has been talking about a mass shooting…only in America…