The Right to Bare Arms

Tout d'abord, mes amis, Madame Ate wrote a poem for you! She had suddenly thought of it just a lamppost ago, so I thought it would make a nice introduction into today's post. Not that it is related or anything to the matter at hand.

Cores That Love No More
- Madame Ate

Maligned, despised, belittled, unjustified;
A cross to my name, my face, my pride
All in between
Desecrated like a land no longer mine
Like a dead mule; a dead weight under abuse
Soup left cold to bitter mouths
Neglect, despair; rotten cores
Cores that blight
Cores that love no more
Off the cherry tree plucked wittingly by that monkey
No one scorns
Fallen beauties breathed once
But breathe no more
All that is left
Is their sad, pure cores

Thank you, Madame Ate for your wonderful contribution! None of the words were revised since she had jotted them down in her notebook; alors, she knows that her poem can be polished. Therefore, please do not be too harsh with your criticism! As she has a desire to write poems, I would like to encourage rather than discourage her new passion!

After that little blurb, we have the steak of our dinner (You don't eat this early? Well, I do.). The second amendment of the Bill of Rights upholds U.S. citizens' right to bear arms. Basically, to own a gun for safety's sake. I bet our Founding Fathers had not even contemplated on the potential issues that would arise from such an amendment because in our modern-day America, we are struggling through the controversy of gun ownership. In the past, we had muskets. Today, we have a large array of firearms: pistols, snipers, rifles, machine guns, shotguns, semiautomatics, &c.. Some are accessible to the public. People commit all sorts of crimes with them, especially homicide in these recent times, which we hear a lot about on the news, and one way citizens formulated to stop this escalating violence is through strict regulations and licensing. That was what Obama was enforcing a couple of years ago. However, there are two other extreme sides: pro-guns and anti-guns. The anti-gun side looks at Europe, sees that only police officers are allowed to own guns, observes their significantly lower homicidal rates, and thinks, "If total gun control saves lives in Europe, why not here?" They believe that there is a point where the Bill of Rights has to boot out of the discussion so that the lives of millions can be saved.
Well one, the lower rate of homicides in Europe only correlates to their strong restriction on guns. There is no definite proof that the restriction decreases the crime rate in European countries. Secondly, there is no stopping people from obtaining guns through illegal means.
"Our constitutional rights must be adhered to at all times. It cannot just be thrown aside whenever there is something we don't like on there!" This is a valid point. Gun ownership is granted to all U.S. citizens, whether the color of their skin is white or dark brown. Does a few people who use their rights for wrong cost every person in the U.S. their right to have a peace of mind, to know that they can protect themselves in times of need? Now, "peace of mind" might be a little contradictory, since it would also give people peace of mind to know that guns are not walking around the streets, but you get the idea. I understand that many people grow up with the pedagogy adopted by teachers as an example of how we should respond to things. Just because two people constantly disturb class by playing around on their phones, or desecrate (just borrowing one of the words from the poem here) desks with wads of gum, should the right to have phones out or the right to chew gum during class be jeopardized for everyone? Sleep on it.

The right to bear arms, or the right to bare arms? Which is better? And yes, there is no spelling mistake in the title. It was intentional, believe it or not. My final word: I do not pretend to be extremely knowledgeable on this controversial issue and everything I had written above was from my current apprehension. It is something I am indeed interested in and I wanted to express that. In the future, another post will come out AFTER A BUNCH OF RESEARCH!

Parting note: "President Obama and dissonance with other world leaders at the eleventh G20 Summit" can make a nice headline.