Gun Violence: Enough of a Reason to Restrict Gun Ownership?

The Constitution of the United States of America provides in the Second Amendment the right of her citizens to "keep and bear arms". The US Supreme Court has addressed the issue a number of times and has affirmed that the right extends beyond guns being kept solely for use in a militia (see District of Columbia v. Heller). I do not claim to be a US constitutional law expert, or even a constitutional law expert.

What follows is commentary in light of the recent shooting deaths of six people in Tuscon Arizona recently. The attack occurred at a "meet & greet" the constituents event being held by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

I am anti-guns. I do not see the use of them. I have fired the odd gun in the past, but it is just not my thing. I do not enjoy guns. I know many people who do enjoy guns and who make a good case for owning one or two or more. I am not anti-guns in the sense of law enforcement having them. Perhaps I am anti-guns in terms of how easy they are to acquire and how devastating they can be when used for illegal purposes.

I cannot imagine that the founding fathers or the early political masters of the US had in mind the sort of gun violence that afflicts the US now. I am almost certain that the founding fathers did not envisage that the right to own guns would become a right to wreak havoc, despair and death on innocents; men, women and children.

My condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in this tragedy: U.S. District Judge John Roll, 63; Christina Greene, 9; Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Scheck, 79.U.S. District Judge John Roll, 63; Christina Greene, 9; Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Scheck, 79. I also offer my best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to all those who were injured in this instance of madness and senseless violence.

I have been reading with interest that there are connections being made to the "vitriol" and over-the-top rhetoric, which includes references to gun violence, in the political debate. In my mind this is an associated, but secondary issue. The focus must remain on guns and the ease of access to them.

I wonder if there would be a significant drop in gun-related violence if the rules governing gun ownership were further tightened to a degree that they became incredibly onerous? Or, would this just serve to promote a black market for weapons allowing gun violence to persist?

I would be happy to live in a world without guns. Yet, I am a realist. If we did not have guns then we would kill ourselves with whatever weapons were available. yet, it would probably take a lot longer to kill six people with a bow and arrow in comparison to getting off 20 rounds from an automatic handgun.

Hopefully, this tragedy will spur some debate about guns and gun ownership that will generate a whole lot of bipartisan support that will ultimately see the rules tightened even further. Maybe, it is time that politicians and others stopped trying to hide behind some universal and blanket right allegedly secured by the founding fathers and had a little bit of a think about what the founding fathers were really concerned about when it came to the right to keep and bear arms.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit that the founding fathers and the early political statesmen of the Republic did not have the attempted murder of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in mind when confirming the Second Amendment as part of a "Bill of Rights".

Police vs. Demonstrators -- Indonesian Style...

This rather disturbing image that came through on Facebook shows just how far Indonesia has come since 1998 under the stewardship of Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), Megawati, and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). It would seem that the police way of repelling unruly demonstrators is to point guns at them.

I am not advocating that students or others have a right to violent protest. What I am wondering is whether pointing guns at them and shooting them is an appropriate or proportional response.

As to the image. I do not know of its authenticity or lack thereof. I pass comment only on that which I see in it.

Gun Safety

The test to pass the gun safety course at the Indonesian Police Academy must not be too hard. A story out of Cirebon in West Java highlights the gung-ho nature of some police officers in this neck of the woods. A Brigadier AU (thankfully for him just his initials) has managed to shoot himself in the arse with his own gun.

The good brigadier, who is part of the motor vehicle theft unit, was in the office and presumably going about his duties and paperwork. He was then ordered by a superior to go and run an errand or something and stood up rather hastily to get to completing the order. Unfortunately, AU forgot that in the spirit of a gun-toting cowboy he had placed his pistol in his waistband rather than in its holster.

In his haste the pistol falls out, hits the ground, lets off a round, and shoots its good owner fair and square in the arse. There are a couple of things that are a little out of place here on the safety front, such as, "why wasn't the pistol holstered?", "why wasn't the safety on?", and "why was the pistol in the officer's waistband to start with?"

I know for sure that the last thing I would want to have happen is have my family jewels blown away by Smith & Wesson!

Apparently, the bullet has been removed and the lucky officer is recuperating in hospital.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Unregistered Weapons and Road Rage in Jakarta

Friday morning in South Jakarta saw a confrontation between a motorist and a motor cyclist climax with the motorist brandishing a handgun. The car driver, Fadhil Satria, brandished an FN revolver with 12 bullets. The gun has been registered previously but has been unregistered since 11 September 2007.

Generally, gun owners have six months after a gun license expires to renew the license. If a license is not renewed then it is an obligation on the gun owners to hand in their weapons to police.

By all accounts the alleged bumper bash did not actually happen according to the Head of the South Jakarta Traffic division, Commander Pamudji, said there was no evidence that the vehicle and the motor cycle came to blows.

It is being reported that in May this year there were 7,798 guns registered but some 3,446 of these were with licenses that had expired. This is a case of laziness and arrogance in the extreme as the process for renewing a license is nothing more than filling in a form at the police station.

The National Police figures show that between January and March this year there were 479 crimes involving guns. This is an increase of almost 25% from the same period last year.

The increase in gun crime is alarming and the fact that road rage incidents are now including guns is also a scary development.

Road rage at any time has the potential to be dramatic and fatal but when guns are added into this mix then the potential for fatalities increases dramatically. Hopefully, these road rage incidents will not develop into other road related violence like car jackings.