NRA Misleading the Country

Wayne LaPierre is vowing that the NRA will never change its position on gun control. They oppose the ban of any and all guns and high capacity magazines. They consider the right to possess an assault rifle to be more important than human life. To give credence to their stand on the issue, they cite the Second Amendment of the Constitution. I wonder if he, or any if the NRA’s members have ever read it. The final version, as ratified by the states 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.”

The wording of the amendment is critical. At the time it was written, our founding fathers were opposed to a standing army. A militia is defined as “An army composed of ordinary citizens rather than professional soldiers“.

The Second Amendment should have been re-written when it was decided that we needed a well-armed and well-trained army. If that had happened, and it most definitely should have, thoughtful restrictions regarding the possessions of guns by private citizens would have been included. At the time the amendment was penned, these were the weapons available to the militia:

Unless I’m hung over from too much Christmas food and drink, this has little resemblance to an assault rifle of the type used to slaughter 20 small children and 6 educators in Newtown. It is far from the killing machine that was used to murder two firefighters in Monroe Country, New York, on Christmas eve.

The big question in this discussion is simple. Will congress support the demands of a lobby, or vote the wishes of the American people? Will money once again defeat common sense? Will the rights of a special interest group supplant the rights of the innocent?

Our President has taken the lead in what will be a long and hard fought argument. He is 100% correct in taking a position that supports the majority of Americans. Congress must not oppose him. The Republicans have said “no” to nearly every proposal he has made. If they support the NRA instead of Mr. Obama and the majority of our citizens, they should pay a very heavy price.

James Turnage

News Correspondent-The Guardian Express