The US does not care for its children.

That is not a blanket statement. I know almost everyone cares for THEIR OWN children. But this nation, as a whole, does not care. Moral bankruptcy is not in pink hair, tattoos, men in dresses, books, or any of the crap people are complaining about, regardless of where they get their information.

We’ve had 202 mass shootings in this country through May 8, 2023. That was the 128th day of the year. More shootings than days. 

We love our guns more than we love our children. We look for ways to harden schools. We look for ways to put body armor on our kids. Our kids practice active shooter drills.

Then we wonder why our kids are so emotionally and spiritually damaged. They have active shooter drills. They see more and more homeless people. They see our nation turning its back on citizens. It’s obvious to them that they are not a priority. We fail to protect. We fail them. As a nation, we fail. 

We care more for Vladimir Putin than we do for our own children. 

The second amendment is not a bad thing until it’s taken to an extreme. It’s been at an extreme for decades now. Nothing in the Constitution is absolute. Children think in absolutes. Adults find ways to compromise. The absolutists are holding the rest of the nation hostage. It’s not the guys shooting the teachers and children.

I’m also aware that during the 1970s, a major shift in how the second amendment is interpreted happened. Before the 1970s, the second was assumed to apply to those in the militia. This interpretation is supported by the writings of the founding fathers. It is also supported by the Constitution itself. The entire point of having a militia is to put down an insurrection or protect our borders from invaders. The founders gave all the power to the people. They never envisioned a scenario where the nation would need to overthrow the government while our constitution is in force. If the Constitution has been removed, so goes the second amendment. Your power is at the ballot box. Nowhere is there an exception to allow a group of citizens to overthrow a government of our constitution. 

According to our own constitution, only the government can raise a militia. Gathering as a group and calling yourself a militia is not a militia. It’s a gang. Further, only the state and federal governments have the authority to call up a militia. 

And no, any regulation put in place today would not have much impact today. But over time, it will. It took us 50 years to get where we are, with so many dead children that didn’t have to die. Needless senseless deaths, deaths that did not have to happen, are on all of our heads.  It doesn’t matter who pulled the trigger because it was the people of this nation that allowed the carnage to continue. We all bear some responsibility.

I’ve said before if a compromise with reasonable regulations is not possible, eventually, there will be enough people who are against the second that it will be abolished. That’s not a threat. That is simply looking at history.

The arguments in favor of book bans, drag shows, etc, ad nauseam are all “to protect the children”. You know what? None of those things count for a grieving parent. None of it protects the children, like reducing the number of children killed in the place they should be safe!

Banning 1984 to protect the children is like pouring gasoline on a kitchen fire to put it out. Literally, 1984 is a book about an authoritarian government. What do authoritarian governments do? They ban books. They tell you what the truth is. The first amendment is supposed to prevent the government from telling us what the truth is. But that also means the individual has to be able to think critically and for themselves. If you are mad about something, but you are unable to articulate what that thing is or why it’s bad, you are part of the problem.

I find it odd that so many on the right want an abortion ban. To force women to have every child conceived, regardless of the woman’s consent. But no one will step up to feed it if the woman is poor. No one will stop it from being murdered in school.

The latest argument against transgender people is they don’t want minors having surgery. No one is choosing to change the sex of their bodies prior to age 18. No doctor would perform such an operation. With possibly one exception. 

Intersex children. 

There is a small number of children born every year with ambiguous genitalia. Under many of these laws, none of the intersex children born each year could have care. It would be illegal.

In conclusion, we need reasonable firearm regulation, a return to the traditional interpretation of the second amendment, and a nation that enables our children to feel safe.

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References:

ABC News: There have been more mass shootings than days in 2023, database shows

Militia Clause 15, US Constitution: ArtI.S8.C15.1

Militia Clause 16, US Constitution: ArtI.S8.C16.1