"There is danger that, if the court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact." - Justice Robert H. JacksonApropos of Justice Jackson's observation, the Second Amendment is, in fact, a Suicide Pact. The Cult of the Gun has taken over the United States and distorted the Second Amendment through parsing, legal rigamarole, obfuscation, deliberate lies, outright evil falsehoods, and disingenious argument reductio de absurbmentum and created a society in which common sense and strict enforcement of anti-gun legislation is impossible and brought the entire Nation down a repeating destructive path.
An armed society is not a polite society. It is a murderous, trigger happy, edgy, nervous society. So, we are witness to the spectacle of the Mass Shooting Gun Humping Maniac Dance. A killer armed with a Gun kills 9 and wounds 17 more at an Oregon Community College and immediately the Gun Nuts demand more Guns.
The Cult of the Second Amendment is one of those National Delusions and Insanities that overcomes a people from time to time.
Rereading Charles Mackey's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, the current thinking re: the 2A is strikingly similar to the madness of Duelling which Europe suffered through for centuries.
Meanwhile after every shooting, the Republican response is to provide the literal least they can to the vicitms, as they offer up their 'Thoughts and Prayers' and proclaim this is not the time to talk about Gun Control as we're all too emotional. So, get used to get. Sandy Hook didn't change anything. In fact it made the situation worse as gun laws were loosened everywhere and gun humping lunatics flooded youtube, twitter, and facebook with Sandy Hook was a Hoax videos.
Even now, on-line stories are flooded with gun humping nuts who proclaim and chant the received wisdom, Holy Second Amendment! Gun Laws don't Stop Gun Rampages! And We, the People are held hostage to the Gun Nuts insanity as we wait for the next mass shooting at a yoga studio, grade school, or military base.
Jeb! Bush when asked about the Umpqua Community College shooting, "Look Stuff Happens..." I mean, Republicans are evil, duplicitious, shameless, lying a$$holes and the Bush family is famous for shrugging their shoulders and saying 'Oh Well' when Americans die but this is just the height of despicable callousness.
ReplyDeleteGrung.. I would have to say the same thing for Democrats.
ReplyDeleteIf the 2nd Amendment is a illusion then the whole Constitution is one as well.
Ammosexuals is my personal favorite term
ReplyDeleteAmmosexuals is my personal favorite term
ReplyDeleteExcellent article indeed.
ReplyDeleteVery good article. The 2nd Amendment is not an illusion it is a Right enumerated in the Constitution. The Right to vote is the single right that appears most often in the Constitution. IT appears in four separate Amendments – the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th – clarify those who cannot be excluded: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged . . . .” Of course, like every other constitutional right, the right to vote is subject to reasonable restrictions. We see restrictions everywhere, especially in states big on gun rights. Oddly, no restrictions whatsoever are allowed on guns. In fact, it was only recently that an 'individual' Right to gun ownership was established by the current Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteAbortion? BAN IT!
ReplyDeleteDrugs? BAN IT!
Prostitution? BAN IT!
Teaching evolution? BAN IT!
Unions? BAN IT!
Guns? Look, banning things never works…
@Jay Lee C.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot the 12th (clarifies the presidential and vice presidential election process)
And the 14th (addresses criteria for disenfranchisement)
And the 17th (gives direct election of senators to the people)
And the 23rd (gave voting rights to citizens of the District of Columbia)
That makes eight amendments, not four, that address voting rights - and seven of those eight expand voting rights.