Assault Weapons and the Balancing act.
Update on life and assaults.
Well the park is now open again. Mass killings are not on the forefront of our mind. Squirt guns and now acceptable toys. And the beat goes on with only political jockeying still front page news.
Until the next time. I am getting my son enrolled in kindergarten, I suppose I will check out the security.
We should be building bridges across our nation not armaments.
Is there a right to disrupt our peaceful life?
The other night we had a wonderful family evening. Much chit chat and no electronics. All of us were home. My wife cooked up a buffet, we ate way too much but all healthy. A game of chase developed and the beauty was that we were all animals. Therefore no weapons or injury. Later a little pillow fighting did get rowdy but all in good fun. Although I am licensed and certified, there are no weapons in my home, neither toy nor real.
My wife grabbed my arm twice during the evening and that means serious stuff. The first time she told me very expressly to lead our congregation in prayer for families of victims from the last week. She generally does not strongly suggest what I pray about or preach about but she was serious. Of course I will do it. But it reminded me just how hard the Newton tragedy hit everyone.
The next time she grabbed my arm she begged/ordered quite clearly not to take our boy out to public places with other children for the weekend. The park next to a preschool was on the agenda along with a trip to the aquarium. I started to protest, but caught myself in time. I promised no such adventures for today. I did not agree so as to protect my son, but so as to protect his mom from worry. Now I am a licensed security guard and a graduate of San Diego Public Safety Academy, and of all the great things I learned the main one is to avoid danger when reasonable. But I should not even think of that going to play in a park with my three year old.
One persons security in owning an assault weapon exponentially affects thousands.
Some will say that this is a personal hub. Some will ask; the point is what? My point is that this is a personal problem for the whole nation. My son is no more at risk today than he was a month ago. We live within eyesight of the Mexico – US border. Violent crime with weapons is much higher here than most places. Gun trafficking going south is rampant and criminal organizations from gangs to cartels are present. But the firearm caused annihilation of children 2,000 miles away is causing us to change our lives.
The only security worth having is less fear.
The presence of an assault weapon in the hands of a civilian 2,000 miles away is causing us to change our lives. In enacting laws and following our constitution we are always called upon to apply a balancing test. This is time honored and good social logic. We weigh the infringement of a freedom against the benefit to society. If the infringement is minimal and the benefit great it is a no brainer. The right of a civilian to possess an assault rifle is barely even tenuously argued, it can be argued as no infringement at all. If we took the right of about 2% of the American people to have assault weapons away. We would be benefiting families all across the nation, millions upon millions.
Justice is portrayed by scales, for good reason.
The balancing act is critical without it any government action is a problem. We are all tired of our National Government being torn up by political polarity, but in the case of assault weapons hard lines will have to be drawn in order for our system to strike the proper balance. The fourth amendment gives us security in our person and homes – this is usually applied to protect us from government searches. However if the armament of civilians is allowed by the government perhaps we should apply the same test to civilians.