Rex Moore: The right to keep and bear arms?

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      No one has the definitive answers for why 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes armed himself with a Remington pump-action shotgun, an AR15 assault rifle, and two Glock handguns. Nevertheless, many would question why someone is allowed to buy four weapons and 6,000 rounds of ammunition within two months at gun shops in the Denver area.

      It is alleged that he purchased a gas mask and a ballistic helmet and vest, in addition to leg, groin, and throat protectors. Why would these acquisitions not raise red flags with the local authorities and the gun shops' staff and owners?

      It all comes back to the mindset of those zealots who cry out about the “right to keep and bear arms” every time we raise the issue of gun control. Does a game hunter really need a gun that has a drum magazine and has a capability of firing 50 to 60 rounds per minute?

      I do not even know anyone who owns a gun but in many areas of the United States, it is unlikely that you would find an adult who does not own one. I recall conversations with some American friends who joked about storing guns in their bedside drawers as well as having “patio guns, garage guns, or car guns”.

      Jumping to conclusions will not help to prevent more massacres. However, we should all take a long look in the mirror and question how we as individuals and our society have become obsessed with behaviour that revolves around violence, celebrity, and self-gratification.

      I do not wish to belittle those who were victims of this horrendous tragedy, but the question arises: what is a four-year-old child doing at a movie theatre at midnight viewing The Dark Knight Rises?

      Man’s inhumanity to humankind never ceases to amaze us, and in some ways, we are all accountable for tragedies like this one in Aurora, Colorado. Every time we fail to look out for our neighbours and ignore the physical and mental cruelty that goes on around us we are supporting bad behaviour. Furthermore, we are continuing to support the media, which exploit this behaviour that hardens our souls as we drift further off course on this sea of humanity.

      Rex Moore is a writer who lives on the North Shore.

      Comments

      12 Comments

      DavidH

      Jul 23, 2012 at 2:27pm

      I don't have a big problem with the concept of sane, rational people owning firearms for sane, rational purposes.

      But the gun lobby still hasn't explained how to keep guns (and 6,000 rounds of ammunition) out of the hands of insane people, like the Colorado shooter.

      And they still haven't explained why an archaic constitutional provision designed to protect a fledling nation in the 1700s is still valid at a time when the U.S. has the planet's most powerful military force ... not including its "militia" (National Guard).

      Need a gun? Get Viagra.

      dave19

      Jul 23, 2012 at 4:11pm

      If you feel that anyone who lives in a dangerous country who wants to defend them selfs and family legally under the constitution should be ridiculed, suggesting that they must then suffer from erectile problems ? You sound like a typical frightened little ignorant smug Canadian who deserves what ever he gets from the Empire in London.

      SPY vs SPY

      Jul 23, 2012 at 7:20pm

      Dear Rex,

      First off, we are not all responsible for what happened in Colorado.

      The NRA is about 99% responsible and a corporate controlled media is also 99% responsible.

      Some of the reasons that the USA is one of the most violent countries on earth, is the manner in which All levels of USA Governments violate Americans every day.

      Many public schools in the USA have text books that are over 10 years old, no money for new ones.

      You can afford to pay $5,000 - $10,000 a year for medical insurance, well then you die. Approximately 35,000 Americans die every year because they can not afford to get medical help.

      Many Americans live in an atmosphere of desperation, over good schools, good health care, a descent job and keeping their home.

      Live in desperation long enough without a sense of hope for the future, depression takes over and you end up acting out your anger, frustration with a gun.

      I used to hunt every fall, I know something about guns and ammo. An assault rifle by definition, is a weapon one uses to ASSAULT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.

      There are those in the USA who desperately want to create chaos and promote a violent society. These people can rightly be called Un-American and Terrorists.

      The NRA and every politician, who refuses to support gun control should hang their heads in shame or better yet, spend 5 - 15 in a prison cell.

      miguel

      Jul 24, 2012 at 9:53am

      David Koresh didn't get far defying the state. He should have been buying tanks.
      Miguel

      dave19

      Jul 24, 2012 at 11:29am

      SPY vs SPY if you arrest and imprison the NRA and every politician who supports the Constitution that would be a Un-American. You sound like you would make a good Tyrant or a good slave,I guess you are. When you label people whom you disagree with as Terrorists you expose yourself as the type who would dress up like a Muslim and do something to discredit them.

      44 Magnum

      Jul 25, 2012 at 8:30am

      “And they still haven't explained why an archaic constitutional provision designed to protect a fledling (sic) nation in the 1700s is still valid at a time when the U.S. has the planet's most powerful military force ... not including its "militia" (National Guard).

      Because an armed citizenry is the only guarantee for the rights of the Individual vs. The Collective, that’s why. It is absolutely no coincidence that every tyrannical government from Lenin to Mao made disarming their population a major priority before unleashing whatever atrocity they wished against them. Who is to say that the planet’s most powerful military force won’t be used against their own countrymen? The idea of an armed militia wasn’t just to repel foreign invaders. It was /is an insurance policy against tyranny.

      Please, Please, Please

      Jul 25, 2012 at 12:29pm

      44 Magnum
      " Who is to say that the planet’s most powerful military force won’t be used against their own countrymen?"

      No one.

      That being said, exactly what weapon that you can purchase in the USA under the auspices of the 2nd Amendment would you be planning to use against an M-1 Abrams, Apache, or even an armoured HumVee ?

      I certainly hope not a 44 Magnum, because you would be very disappoined - and likely very dead - in short order.

      Of course, someone better tell the citizens of the Warsaw Pact and Germany (fall of communism in Europe), the citizens of the Singing Revoltuion (Estonia, Latvia,Lithuania), the citizens of Portugal (Carnation Revolution) the citizens of the Phillipines (People Power), the citizens of Georgia (Rose Revolution), the citizens of Ukraine (Orange Revolution), the citizens of Lebanon (Cedar Revolution), the citizens of the Dominican Republic (Mirabellas), the citizens of India (independence) that their revolutions to overthrow tyrannical regimes could not have been successful as they were not armed to the teeth.

      The citizens of Tunisia and Egypt were not armed either, and that worked out somewhat well (pending future developments).

      Libya and Syria both had a large number of AK-47 in private homes prior to their rebellions, and as we saw in Libya without heavy weapons, assault rifles, machine guns and RPG's wont take down a even a poorly trained and equipped military unless you have NATO in your back pocket.

      The Free Syrian Army currently admits it cant beat Assad in a military battle head on, and they have some heavy weapons brought to them by defectors.

      Revolutions happen where citizens are armed and unarmed; they can fail where citizens are armed just as easily as they can succeed where citizens are not armed.

      The idea that an armed citizenry is an insurance policy against tyranny is wishful thinking at best, and self serving at worst. There is simply no consistent pattern in history that makes this argument on the basis of evidence.

      44 Magnum

      Jul 25, 2012 at 3:16pm

      @Please

      I think you are confusing actual revolutions with the prevention and / or deterrence of tyranny.

      Almost every example you listed from Eastern Europe to the Middle East was either: a/ inevitable and would have happened anyways in one shape or form, as the ruling colonial power (U.K., Soviet Union) was either greatly weakened or self-destructing, or: b/ they were funded privately to disrupt the current governments, most likely with George Soros money.

      “Revolutions happen where citizens are armed and unarmed; they can fail where citizens are armed just as easily as they can succeed where citizens are not armed. “

      And excessive acts of tyranny and atrocities by governments against their populations, whether it’s a Cabodian style massacre or a Bolshevik Holodomor happen almost exclusively where citizens are unarmed. You can certainly find consistent patterns there.

      SPY vs SPY

      Jul 25, 2012 at 8:11pm

      Dave 19

      One more time,an Assault Weapon by definition is a Weapon one uses to Assault another Human Being.

      There is a Snow Balls Chance in Hell that any foreign army will ever land on the shores of the USA.

      So no one in the USA needs to own a Military Assault Weapon. The NRA and the USA Republican Party went to War against the Democratic Party and the Good Citizens of the USA over the issue of Banning Russian and Chinese manufactured Machine Guns from the USA.

      The Russians and Chinese do not need to invade the USA to kill Americans, just export their guns to the US and them Good Old Boys will do the job off killing each other for you.

      Dave you Moron, does it ever occur to you that many countries wish the destruction of the US. Making the USA a Free Fire - Firing Range is one way to do it. The fear level in the USA from gun violence is greater that any other civilised country on Earth.

      smithsmith

      Jul 26, 2012 at 2:28pm

      some are so paranoid. comparing what happened in cambodia with what could happen in the USA. So many 'what ifs' in there. It must be tough living in this paranoid delushional world 24/7

      I support everyone's right to hunt. I support a farmer's right to protect his livestock. But there is no reason anyone in the public realm should own an assault rifle, a hand gun or anything that was designed strictly for killing another human. I am afraid a good portion of our american friends are too far down looney lane to realize that but here in Canada I am hopeful that the atrocities in the states is enough to keep people aware of the dangers

      It would have been really hard to kill 20 and injure 50 with a knife or a hunting rifle.