"FBI arrests three suspected neo-Nazis before Virginia gun-rights rally" (The Guardian)
"TSA finds record number of guns at airports in 2019" (NYT)
Three suspected members of a neo-Nazi group (known as The Base), who built a machine gun and hoped to start a U.S. race war, were arrested by the FBI and brought to court, ironically right before a planned gun-rights rally in Virginia. The three men, Brian Lemley, Patrik Matthews, and William Bilbrough, were accused of interstate commerce of weapons, harboring illegal aliens, an alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and aiding and abetting. The federal government has trouble bringing criminal terrorism charges on those affiliated with domestic extremist groups, however, due to the First Amendment's free speech clause.
In the past, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have been criticized for not turning enough attention towards dealing with far-right extremism, including attacks on synagogues and a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA. Several thousand gun-rights supporters planned a rally in Richmond, VA, in response to the state legislature's movements towards strengthening gun laws. Past attacks, gun laws and the gun-rights rally, and the arrest of the three mentioned men have all become main areas of controversy in the long-standing debate around the right to bear arms. While the Constitution gives this right, the issue of safety is becoming more and more pressing as news stories of gun violence pile up.
After hearing news of shootings, gun violence, reading this article, and most recently an article about how the TSA found a record number of guns at checkpoints in airports (almost 90% of which were loaded), it seems that the debate should shift towards favoring the safety of Americans. Yet this would require a constitutional amendment, which, as we know, would be nearly impossible to accomplish in these times of strong political polarization. Is not the issue of safety more important than what political party your opponent identifies with?
3 comments:
I am strongly strongly strongly against guns; they scare the heck out of me. I don't see why anyone would feel safer with a gun (but that's coming from someone who is scared of kitchen knives so). I personally think that this increase in gun violence is absolutely ridiculous and I'm shocked that there haven't been more attempts to put stronger gun laws in place. I mean, we practice lockdown drills and have to discuss what to do in the case of an armed intruder coming to our school to kill us. It's beyond horrifying; people are dying and people are more concerned about what they're allowed to own?! However, I understand that stricter gun laws, or even a constitutional amendment (if even possible to accomplish because polarization, as Daniella mentioned) would solve the problem. I'm not an expert or anything, but I've seen some data showing that some places in the world with very little gun laws have very little gun related crimes. However, we are the leading nation in gun related crimes, and why? Because Americans are insane and... ok well no, that's not fair. There just happens to be a culture here in America where people feel very strongly about their right to bear arms, which I believe is because they feel it is a form of protection. Unfortunately, this "protection" is killing so many people, including hundreds of children as well as targeted groups of people (homosexuals, non-whites, etc. I mean I see that the majority of people advocating for guns and the right to have them are white people, and they are probably the safest demographic in America, which sucks and makes me angry and I need to stop writing before I start freaking out...) Anyway ya know why can't we all get along and just not hurt each other???
I think that the issue of safety is far more important than polarization. However, when it comes to gun rights, Americans are polarized because many reasonable human being claims that owning a gun makes them feel safer, while other equally reasonable human beings believe the right to own a gun is in itself dangerous. While I would personally never own a gun, I think there is some legitimacy to the right to own a gun. Even if the US government pulled off and miracle and passed an amendment, criminals would obtain guns through the black market. It may be more difficult but from my experience living in a country, Japan, where guns are outlawed, criminals can still obtain weapons including guns. With this in mind, if I lived in a dangerous area filled with criminals who had guns, I might want to own a gun so that I could defend myself if I was attacked. But if the US made it illegal, I would be stuck.
I know that many of the groups who fight for the right to own a gun don't live in such dangerous areas. And I do believe people can misuse guns. However, I understand why they fight for their right to own a gun.
In this case, gun laws are ineffective in the first place, and I think that's the main problem. these are people that if they want a gun, they are going to find a way to get a gun. There are plenty of people that fine with the responsibility to a gun and others that abuse its powers. I'm just not really convinced that stricter gun laws could help in a case like this. Putting it into a perspective like that, then what are we to do? There would need to be a way to identify people that would abuse guns before they are used to take precautions. If there is a human and legalistic way to do it, it would work better.
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