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What You Can Do About America's Gun Problem [1]

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Date: 2023-04-22  

“Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” ~ Antonin Scalia, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Much has changed since 1791 when the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms (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) was adopted as part of the Bill of Rights.

While in 2023, the NRA, gun manufacturers, distributors, retailers, lobbyists, and many Republican members of Congress define the Second Amendment literally, and right-wing militia groups rant and rave about federal tyranny, most Americans realize they have no reason to fear our armed forces.

Moreover, no thinking person seriously believes the public, no matter how well armed, could hope to defeat the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines.

In a practical sense, the Second Amendment guarantees civilians the freedom to keep and bear arms to defend themselves, their families, and homes, go hunting, and participate in recreational shooting activities, not mobilize to go to war against the United States.

Nevertheless, the nation’s highest court has diligently worked to bolster the freedoms of the American people, eighteen or older, to, without regulations, own and carry hundreds of millions of handguns, pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and weapons of war by issuing the following rulings:

However, we can’t disregard the costs Americans pay to live or die by Second Amendment freedoms, underscored by the dreadful fact that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 200,000 lives were snuffed by gun violence over the past five years, an average of nearly 40,000 deaths each year.

Additionally, while the true financial costs of gun violence are difficult to quantify, government and private researchers estimate that hospital bills, lost productivity, and lost wages cost America hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

According to the Associated Press and USA Today, as of today, April 22, 2023, gun-toting mass murderers are staging their gruesome events an average of once every six and a half days.

So, what are we citizens to do?

Nothing?

Of course not.

Since most members of Congress haven’t the courage to protect us from gun violence, the majority of citizens who favor common-sense legislation must demand elected representatives stop kowtowing to the NRA, the gun lobby, and gun manufacturers and pass common-sense gun regulations to balance the freedom to own guns against the freedom to live.

If you agree, contact your representative and senators by clicking on https://www.congress.gov/contact-us and make your demand.

‘Nuff said?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/22/2165363/-What-You-Can-Do-About-America-s-Gun-Problem

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