Greg Abbott Can ‘Go to Hell,’ Texas Senator Angrily Reacts After Shooting

I’d like to point out a couple of things here, after yet another senseless and preventable mass shooting in Texas. One of the reddest states in the nation. Remember, a year ago, they had a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. In that shooting, much of the Uvalde police department stood in the halls of the school while 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered. The people who were supposed to protect the school children and teachers stood in the halls of the school. They claim they did not have the correct keys to enter the classroom. As I recall, most police officers are equipped with a boot that they can apply sudden pressure to a door, and it will open. If the door opens out (likely in a school), they have tools to pry the door open. In any case, this was an extreme example of nobody with a gun except the murderer.

We have had a gun problem in this nation since at least the shooting at Thurston High in Springfield, Or. This shooting predates the Columbine shooting by date, if not by notoriety.

Here are the points I want to make.

• Doing nothing is not an option. We have essentially done nothing since the school shooting in Springfield. The reason given when any meaningful attempt is made is that we can not infringe on a citizen’s right to own a gun. Usually, some argument is made about the militia and that all people that own a gun are part of the militia, but that is factually wrong. Our Constitution has specific instructions on how the militia is formed, by who, and much more. See the section entitled “State Militia as per the US Constitution”
• The GOP and their far right wing have latched onto the idea that someone must be mentally ill to open fire on schools, shopping malls, or other places citizens gather. To a point, I agree that some of the blame can be placed at our nations abysmal healthcare system. Suffice it to say we don’t have a healthcare system. We have what amounts to a life support system for healthcare. The patients are generally hung out to dry by this system. BTW, that’s you and I, in case that is not clear. The following section describes how the GOP has been at war with itself trying to justify it’s indefensible position.

Healthcare, including Mental Healthcare

We know that healthcare services and costs ramp up as we approach the end of our lives. In all but 43 countries on planet Earth, healthcare is either partially or completely covered. This is done for all citizens, and in some cases, for all persons within a country. Regardless of the status of the person. They can be homeless, unemployed, employed, Independently wealthy, just born, or on death’s door. In these nations, no one goes bankrupt because they got sick. The bill is paid, and life goes on.

Here’s where the GOP loses its mind.

They have fought, tooth and nail, to deny the American citizens a program that our government helped set up in most of the nations that have Universal Healthcare. After World War II, there was a push to implement Universal Healthcare worldwide, where it made sense. England, Germany (all of it), Australia, France, and a host of other nations have it. We helped them set it up. Somewhere there are notes describing how this system is less expensive and more cost-effective than anything else we have yet devised.

But if we make general medicine not for profit and managed by the government, it stops a massive money stream. The wealthy (and some not so wealthy) of this nation are making bank off your ill health. Not to make the system better, just to put it in their pockets. The reason we keep a military presence around the world and we never stop buying weapons for our military is because there is a similar money stream for that, going to a similar group of people. But that is another post. Since it’s such a great money maker, and the dead don’t complain, almost all of our retirement funds make money off the disease and dying of our citizens.

They fight against healthcare, including mental healthcare, at every budget meeting. They are cutting programs that help the poor and enrich the already wealthy. Right now. This House of Representatives. They are cutting education, healthcare, mental healthcare, medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and all forms of public assistance. Remember that when the homeless issues in this nation get worse.

Also, remember, the mental healthcare system has not fully recovered after Ronald Reagan closed all the mental health facilities and turned out the patients into the streets.

The GOP is blaming a cause for the shootings on a thing they won’t fund. It’s like they think if they don’t spend money on something, it just goes away. That’s not how any of this works.

State Militia as per the US Constitution

The US Constitution has all the details on how militia’s are formed, organized, and regulated. First, we have the Militia Clauses.

Clause 15. The Congress shall have Power to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.

Clause 16. The Congress shall have Power to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.

There are also a lot of detail. I’m not going to copy everything there. I will give you a link to the justia.com website with much more information.

There are sections on who can call out the militia. Both the Federal Government and the States may do so. There is no mechanism for citizens to call out a militia. 

The militia is under the jurisdiction and authority of the State or the Federal Government. Specifically, a militiaman who refused to obey such a call was not “employed in the service of the United States so as to be subject to the article of war,” but was liable to be tried for disobedience of the act of 1795.

Both states and Congress may prescribe penalties for failure to obey the President’s call. 

The Federal Government may call out the militia in case of civil war; its authority to suppress rebellion is found in the power to suppress insurrection and to carry on war. If citizens rise against the state or federal government, that is an insurrection. Insurrection against the government is illegal and punishable.

Essentially, the militia is formed for and serves the states and the Federal Government. The militia was not, and has never had the purpose of overthrowing the US Government. This is mischaracterization of the militia in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. 

In 1790, the Federal Government brought the state militia under the control of the Federal Government. The term “Militia of the United States” was defined to mean, “all able-bodied male citizens of the United States and all other able-bodied males who have . . . declared their intention to become citizens of the United States,” between the ages of eighteen and forty-five.

The Federal Government may call out the militia in case of civil war; its authority to suppress rebellion is found in the power to suppress insurrection and to carry on war. 

At no time has the US Constitution given citizens the right to overthrow their own government. This idea is patently absurd. The constitution already states the people have the power. We exercise this power at the ballot box. If the election doesn’t go the way you wanted, that’s not a tyrannical government. Your recourse is to raise support for your cause.

In conclusion, there is no mechanism within or without the US Constitution to provide for a citizen or group to remove any part of the US Government.

This in turn is why our constitution goes into great detail about the structure of our government, the powers each branch has, and the checks each branch has over the other two branches.

References:

Justia US Law website: https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/article-1/58-the-militia-clauses.html

US Constitution: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript

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