Axar.az presents an article "Articles, Madness And Guns" by John Samuel Tieman.

I know Kansas City. I once had a girlfriend there. I did a poetry reading in KC a decade or so ago. My wife and I vacationed there a year ago. I'm not a football fan. Like many St. Louisans, baseball is in my genes. But I'm also from Missouri, so I rooted for the Kansas City Chiefs in the Superbowl. And they won! And now I grieve.

On February 14th, at the Chiefs' victory rally at Union Station, one woman was shot dead and 22 were wounded, including 11 children. Civic pride turned into horror. The low body count ranks this shooting, ironically, among the more ordinary shootings in our gun culture.

I hate guns. I'm a war veteran, so I know a bit about assault rifles. I know how they work, and I have witnessed their impact. Which is why I hate them. So I am going to make two arguments, one based upon the original intent of the 2nd Amendment, and the other based upon anger, fear and sorrow.

The Constitution may be viewed as a revision of the Articles Of Confederation. The 2nd Amendment may be viewed, therefore, as a revision of Paragraph 4, Article VI. Article VI speaks of forts and “vessels of war” and, in part, reads, “every state shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipage.” Our 2nd Amendment revised that, and like any good revision, shortened the original 133 words to 27, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Thomas Jefferson, in his “Notes On The State Of Virginia”, describes the practical application of the 2nd Amendment. I risk quoting at length, so that we may note Jefferson's clarity concerning military discipline and hierarchy. “Every able-bodied freeman, between the ages of 16 and 50, is enrolled in the militia. Those of every county are formed into companies, and these again into one or more battalions, according to the numbers in the county. They are commanded by colonels, and other subordinate officers, as in the regular service. In every county is a county-lieutenant, who commands the whole militia of his county, but ranks only as a colonel in the field. We have no general officers always existing. These are appointed occasionally, when an invasion or insurrection happens, and their commission determines with the occasion. The governor is head of the military, as well as civil power. The law requires every militia-man to provide himself with the arms usual in the regular service.” I risk quoting this at length to make clear a simple point. The murderers in Kansas City are not “A well regulated Militia”. Neither are the Crips, Adam Lanza of Sandy Hook infamy, nor, for that matter, the National Rifle Association.

That's the original intent of the 2nd Amendment. It couldn't be clearer.

But enough of the rational argument. I'm writing the first draft of this essay on February 16th. As of February 15th, ABC News reports that 4,994 Americans have died because of gun violence in 2024. The average is 108 deaths a day. 3,351 folks have been injured by guns. Between the time I finish this essay and the time you read it, there will be hundreds of shootings in America.

This is madness. Madness. Perhaps it is useless to have a rational discussion anymore. We're caught in this cycle. There's a shooting. Someone wants to ban guns, and someone else says we shouldn't talk politics while we grieve. Then someone quotes these statistics, and someone quotes those statistics, and there's pro, and there's con, and on and on and on. So the cycle goes. So the argument withers. Then there's another shooting. We need to break the cycle. In addition to the rational, we need to look into our hearts. Pro-gun and anti-gun folks have more in common than we think. Both sides, all of us, we're all afraid. Why are we so afraid?

We need to hold a mirror to ourselves. And don't deflect the introspection. Don't tell me you want your assault rifle for hunting. In all the years I used assault rifles in the army, the M-14 and the M-16, I never once aimed at a squirrel, a deer, or a rabbit. We'e afraid. That's why we have assault weapons in our homes. We fear our neighbors. Why? Why are we so afraid? You tell me.

In the meantime, two things. One, Adam Lanza had Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle, a knock-off of Colt's M-16. By the standards of Thomas Jefferson, the Articles Of Confederation and their revision, the Constitution, Lanza and his rifle are not a militia. Two, see the madness. Feel the grief. Feel the rage. Feel the horror. Feel the fear.

Then ban the goddamned things.