The question is how
By Will Collette
On Sunday night, I listened to President Obama speak to the
people of Newtown, CT who had gathered together in an interfaith ceremony. The
President’s words were moving and I hope they brought some comfort to the
families of the victims and the Newtown community.
The President spoke broadly about the need to take action
to ensure “these tragedies must end.” Perhaps fittingly, given the setting, he
did not define what he meant other than to point out the obvious: mass
shootings and gun violence occur much too often and we must do something to
curb their poisonous effect on our communities and our culture.
The next time President Obama speaks on this subject, I hope
it will be soon and I hope he makes it clear that he is not only saddened but
angry. Angry that we have allowed our culture to be so dominated by firearms
that we must regularly endure these horrors. I am longing to hear the President
speak in Old Testament terms about the need to finally strike back at this
evil.
As President Obama pointed out, this is the fourth time he
has personally participated in the ceremonies following mass shootings. He
noted that gun violence and murder is a regular, daily occurrence throughout
the country. Most nations of the civilized world think the United States is
deranged to make it so easy for this to happen.
Of course, we have the Second Amendment to the Constitution
and, yes, the US Supreme Court has interpreted the quirky wording[1]
of the Amendment in the broadest terms. And, yes, under our Constitutional form
of government, we accept the principle that the Constitution says what the
Supreme Court says it means[2].
But that is not the end of the line for sanity. While the
current conservative Supreme Court interprets the Second Amendment broadly, it
does not interpret gun ownership as an unlimited right. Congress and the states may enact
legislation that could help, at least a little, within the parameters set by
the Court.
It is also possible to see either a change in the Supreme
Court’s position – with a change of membership or a major shift in public norms – or an amendment to the Constitution. The original Constitution has
been amended a total of twenty-five times. Indeed, the Second Amendment is one
of those changes.
Amendments to the Constitution can be repealed –
prohibition, the 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st
Amendment.
We have amended the Constitution to end slavery and give
women the right to vote. The Supreme Court has changed its mind and reversed
previous decisions to, for example, outlaw segregation and overturn laws
against birth control.
None of these approaches are easy or quick. It’s not
supposed to be quick or easy. But every struggle for justice begins when people
decide it is time.
We need the President’s leadership at this critical time. We
need President Obama to say that it is time that we stop letting the gun lobby
control this nation’s public health and safety policy.
I hope the many good and decent gun owners will join in this
struggle. They too must be dismayed at the terrible slaughter of the children
in Newtown by a maniac wielding his mother’s Bushmaster. If they're not, shame on them.
All across this nation, we need to figure out how to get
this done. We need honest and serious debate not so much over whether we should
take action, but how.
[1] In
its exact wording it reads, “Amendment II, Right to Bear Arms: 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.”