I want to take a moment to mention the passing of Sean Taylor, the Redskins Pro Bowl free safety, who died from a femoral artery gunshot wound. About 1 in 4,500 single passenger automobiles are involved in a fatality. Furthermore, when you compare the rate of injury, about 1 in 5,600 firearms is involved in an injury, and 1 in 2,300 automobiles are. The likelihood that a registered gun will be used in a homicide is vanishingly low; criminals steal guns to commit crimes. (Roughly 90% of the firearms used to commit homicides are stolen). Criminals, when asked in prison, go to neighborhoods where they don't expect the residents to have guns - they're not stupid. Taylor has also been up on charges (and was serving probation) for firearms charges - he brandished a firearm in the face of someone on his property over a reputedly stolen all terrain vehicle. Taylor evidently felt that there was enough risk to his life that he kept a machete. In. His. Bedroom. We'd be talking about how sad it is that he's up on charges for manslaughter, how the violence of his past had come back to haunt him. Our casual culture of auto ownership and licensing doesn't keep people from illegally driving cars, and yet we don't blame the cars for the roads of gore that happen every holiday weekend. Many have voiced that there needs to be more control of firearms, because of this, and other firearm related tragedies. We, the people, have enacted several pieces of legislation to limit where firearms are allowed, and not. One has to wonder, however, if Sean had his own gun, or if someone at Virginia Tech or Columbine High School had a gun, if lives of many couldn't have been saved. Constitution, because our forefathers agreed that in order to keep government at bay, the people themselves needed to be armed. They had learned the lessons of the all the great Empires of the past, and government control of weapons had led to their fall. Imagine how easy http://www.2012redskinsforsale.com it would be for an army, and not even a good one, to seize control of a major city here in the United States if none of the citizens had access to weapons. There are obvious people whom should not own firearms. It would be ridiculous for a violent felon to be allowed to carry or purchase a weapon. People who are mentally unstable, diagnosed non-recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, should not be allowed either. Is there a need for a private citizen to own big powerful anti-tank weapons, or armor piercing ammunition? Yes. Our military is using all of the best technology, and so are those of other countries. Since we are allowed by the Constitution, how are we to form a militia, without them? We should at least have some kind of defense. not only with our own troops, but with those of the UN and other countries. Somehow, Americans have forgotten that the "civil" part of that phrase may themselves as well. Now, everyone from the Congress, the Supreme Court, or the White House treats that document like the bible instead. Interpreting it any way they like, depending on the current circumstances. Go read it, so you know what it means. Teach it to your children. Those who don't should be voted out of office during the following election. There should also be a better way for the people to fire its leaders sooner, when they don't keep their word, or continue to make things worse. The balance of power that is essential to our form of government has tilted to the executive. We have in place something more akin to a king or dictator, than what the likes of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson had in mind.
