Support School Gun Violence Prevention

We must achieve gun violence prevention in our schools and at the same time preserve responsible gun ownership. We can to it. It is Constitutional. The challenge is to avoid absolutist fear-fostering images that restricting a dangerous weapon starts taking all guns away.

In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision ruled that the Second Amendment gives Americans the right to own guns for personal self-defense. In doing so, the justices very clearly stated that society has the right to, and legitimate interest in controlling gun ownership.

David Ropeik of The Big Think writes and quotes, “On pp. 54 and 55, the majority opinion, written by conservative bastion Justice Antonin Scalia, states: “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited…” It is “…not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

“Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

“We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller (an earlier case) said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those “in common use at the time”. We think that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons.’ ”

Fully automatic weapons began being restricted since the 1930s under the National Firearms Act…because of organized crime's use of machine guns… ” “The other firearms included sawed off shotguns and silencers.” These all were restricted because A). they are considered especially appealing to criminals and B). they are not common devices for average members of society to own.”

So, why aren’t military assault style weapons or bump stocks being restricted now? They have repeatedly devastated our schools and gatherings. They clearly meet the National Firearms Act criteria and meet Scalia’s “dangerous and unusual weapons” criteria because of repeated use in killing our kids with such efficiency. Clearly, our society’s ability to protect itself is impaired by them.

Restrict possession of military style assault weapons.