In {Cold Blood}: The Second Amendment Is Not an Unlimited Right to Own Guns

In 2016, the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals ruled 7-4 that “The right of the general public to carry a concealed firearm in public is not, and never has been protected by the 2nd Amendment,” thus upholding a law requiring process and “good cause” for concealed carry licenses in California. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court struck down a century-old gun law in New York, ruling unconstitutional the state law that had compelled gun carry applicants to demonstrate a specific need for self-defense.

Conservatives believe that “guns in the hands of good guys” is the universal answer to the existential threat of gun violence in this country. While deteriorating mental health is certainly at the root of it all, increased access to guns does not check the problem; it exacerbates it, and dramatically so.

Consider just a few facts (not enough room here to cite them all here):

There are 36 criminal homicides committed with a gun for every self-defense gun homicide.

Over 230,000 guns are stolen annually from U.S. homes in property crimes, and guns are often a contributing motive for burglary.

A woman’s risk of being murdered increases 500 percent if a gun is present during a domestic dispute.

According to a 2018 Quinnipiac Poll:

• 97 percent of American voters and 97 percent of gun owners support universal background checks.
• 67 percent support a nationwide ban on assault weapons.
• 83 percent support mandatory waiting periods for gun purchases.
• 53 percent of all adults surveyed approve of high-capacity magazine bans.
• 89 percent of adults with a gun in the home approve of laws to prevent the purchase of guns by the mentally ill.
• 82 percent of Americans approve of banning gun sales to people on no-fly lists.
• 77 percent support requiring a license to purchase a gun.

Now, against the obvious will of an overwhelming majority of Americans, consider that as many as 40 percent of all gun sales in this country are through undocumented private party gun sales that don’t require any kind of background check (i.e., the “gun show loophole”). This means that pretty much anyone, anywhere can get their hands on a gun. And in this country, they do.

Conservatives just don’t get that the so-called “good guys” have their firearms stolen, make poor decisions with guns under pressure, and suffer from mental health challenges while possessing guns in equal measure to the rest of society. If we were all as well-armed as they would have us, there would be a Pulse nightclub level massacre in this country every week.

Conservative leaning courts everywhere have become political instruments of a very loud, very proud, very misguided minority. With every legislative step backward, we doggedly preserve the freedom of our citizens to commit homicides, unabated. In the race to destroy ourselves, this past week saw us really pick up the pace.

As always, America is out in front, leading the way.

Thoughts and Prayers, everyone.