Overtaken by insomnia as usual, and finding the "War For The Planets Of The Apes" I was watching rather dull, I decided to scan through my twitter feeds, commenting on news and information I found interesting, and moving on for those I didn't feel inclined to add my thoughts to, until I came across news of the arrest of a 16-year-old boy in Long Branch, New Jersey, after four people, including his parents and sister, were shot to death in their home on New Year's Eve. I had long wanted to write about the gun culture in the United States, and how in my estimation it should be "One Nation Under Guns", rather than "... Under God", at a time when nothing related to shootings had happened in the US. In fact, I had thought to write this hours before the Las Vegas shooting last year, but once that happened I had to withdraw, and others had happened since then, leaving me no choice but to tag the many stories of shootings in the States with #OneNationUnderGuns before "quoting" and "retweeting" them on Twitter, as I'd always done, even before I thought it trite to write about America and guns, up to the point I decided to write the next time it comes to me to do so, regardless of the shooting situation in the States.


I didn't want to write following a shooting incident, so that I won't have to be classified as one of those who only shout because there's been an incident, then remain quiet till the next incident, unfortunately it seems I may not escape the tag now, especially if I go ahead and publish this. However, what must be done must be done, and so I do this. I have been following the issue of guns, gun control, the gun lobby and related matters in the US for sometime now, and none of what had happened, or is happening is in the least encouraging. I even surmise that Piers Morgan lost his primetime show at CNN, after Larry Kings' retirement because of his stand on gun control, as it appeared Americans weren't prepared to have a foreigner, howbeit British (the reason for which owning a gun became an individual right in the US in the first place) preach or even dictate to them, what to do with (their) guns. It wasn't impossible to find that Americans who were appalled with the ease with which Assault Rifles could be procured, would on the other hand throw umbrage at Piers, not because they don't agree with what he's saying, but just because of who he is and where he's from. Which is why sometimes, even I wonder if I should get involved, or bare my mind on this, not being an American, though with a few American friends, and a larger American audience, if my blog stats are anything to go by.


Just last week, I read a stat which stated that more people died from gunshot wounds at the hands of minors (including "toddlers" if I may add) in the USA, far more than the number from so called terrorists in the last five years. I even saw a video that went viral sometime ago, of a nine year old girl who accidentally shot and killed her instructor at a shooting range,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGCKFzGAfQ0

not forgetting the one about a friend who wanted to help his friend who had hiccups by scaring him with a gun to the head, which he "accidentally" discharged, to blow his brains out. Now, these are just the genuine "mistake" ones, in the sea that's the premeditated type, as with the recent discovery of ammo in a Hyatt Regency Hotel room in Houston, hours before a New Years' Party (that was when again I wanted to write this, but let it pass, until now) hours ago, with the arrest of a drunk man afterwards, in what seemed like a plan to mimick the Las Vegas Shooting, but thankfully nipped in the bud.


Yes, Americans hold dearly the Second Amendment, that protects the right of an individual to possess and carry firearms to heart, dating back to the time of the war of independence from Britain. Many teenagers are gifted one form of firearm or the other at their "coming of age", or even at a far younger, while Hollywood glorifies same at every given opportunity, while we make heroes of kids who handle guns in such movies to kill the bad guys, but frown at use of children as soldiers in third world conflicts with nice speeches at the UN. Unfortunately, not many Americans consider that the times have changed, and that though it might have been expedient some time ago for civilians to own and carry arms, the conditions today are different. That the rifles of time past have given way to assault rifles that fire multiple rounds in seconds, with death now easily procured than it used to, in times of peace, leading to a situation where the number of dead in the USA (from school and church shootings, Islamophobic and racial attacks, black on black violence, extrajudicial killings by the police of blacks etc), rivals (if not more sometimes) that in war zones per diem.


So, anti-gun control proponents say number of deaths from shootings will reduce if everyone had guns, but reality suggests otherwise. As regards, Background Checks for those intending to own guns, even that is simplistic, if one considers that till now the extent of digging that is required to be done hasn't been explicitly enumerated, in terms of what constitutes one's privacy, and on whose shoulder(s) the responsibility will be placed, amongst others. It isn't enough to just say guns shouldn't be made available to mentally unstable people, when someone could actually look and "be" normal, until something makes him/her snap (like that man, formerly a reporter for a TV station in Virginia, that shot his former colleague and cameraman,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAPlmeGSeRY&layout=mobile&client=mv-google&skipcontrinter=1

while they were Live On TV interviewing a woman, who survived the ordeal, all because he had a misunderstanding with the TV station and had been fired), and if the closest thing is a gun, use it! Therefore, I think that though background checks as part of Gun Control measures makes sense, it is still one of the means to an end, the end being a Repeal of the second amendment. Yes, you just read that, and I know it is not an easy road to take, but "Impossible Is Nothing", and this must be done taking into cognizance today's realities, otherwise America will remain "One Nation Under Guns".


'kovich


PICTURE CREDIT:
- https://www.pinterest.com/amp/pin/113364115598898606/
- http://www.history-of-american-wars.com
- http://moviegunguy.com/WordPress


ONE NATION UNDER GUNS
https://madukovich./2018/01/02/one-nation-under-guns/