The Right to be Free From Guns?

By E.J. Dionne - June 25, 2015

From here.

WASHINGTON -- Advocates of a saner approach to guns need a new strategy. We cannot go on like this, wringing our hands in frustration after every tragedy involving firearms. We said "Enough" after Sandy Hook. We thought the moment for action had come. Yet nothing happened. We are saying "Enough" after Charleston. But this time, we don't even expect anything to happen.

What's needed is a long-term national effort to change popular attitudes toward handgun ownership. And we need to insist on protecting the rights of Americans who do not want to be anywhere near guns.

I guess I'm rusty on my Constitution. Where exactly is the right to not be near a gun?

Lest anyone doubt that gun-control measures can work, a study released earlier this month by the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University found that a 1995 Connecticut law requiring a permit or license contingent on passing a background check was associated with a 40 percent drop in gun homicides.

Would that be the same 40% reduction that has been seen in the other 49 states?  Violent crime is down nation wide and these fools thing some law in one state is responsible? I wonder what color the sky is in their world?

 "We need to build a social movement devoted to the simple proposition that owning handguns makes us less safe, not more," he told me. "The evidence is overwhelming that having a gun in your home increases the risks of suicide, domestic violence and fatal accidents, and yet the number one reason given for gun purchases is 'personal safety.' We need a public health campaign on the dangers of gun ownership, similar to the successful efforts against smoking and drunk driving."

Really? Kellerman was debunked years ago. Treat gun ownership like smoking? I don't think owning a gun has ever caused cancer. Except for the cancer that is all of the gun haters. Maybe we could irradiate them until they go away.

"The best way to disarm the NRA rhetorically is to make the Second Amendment issue moot," Molyneux said. "This is not about the government saying you cannot own a handgun. This is about society saying you should not have a gun, especially in a home with children."

When my grandsons were big enough to walk, I started with "do not touch".  We went from there and the 10 and 12 year olds go with me to the range. They can recite the 4 rules and they understand muzzle control and clearing a weapon. Every gun owner with children should be talking safety from as early as possible.

Every school in this country should be having the Eddie Eagle program from K through the 6th grade. Jr. High should have a safety program that includes hands on training. High school should have safety and live fire. The best way to keep the children safe is to take away the mystery and show them just what a gun, in the wrong hands can do.

The nation could ring out with the new slogans of liberty: "Not in my house." "Not in our school." "Not in my bar." "Not in our church." We'd be defending one of our most sacred rights: The right not to bear arms. 

You have the right not to bear arms. Don't want one, don't buy one.