A rash of holdups in St.Louis, by gangs of young teenagers carrying the popular AR-15 military assault rifles, recently led to a proposal for an amendment to a public safety bill in the Missouri House of Representatives. Democratic state Rep. Donna Baringer, who sponsored the amendment, told House members, “We have 14-year-olds walking down the middle of the street in the city of St. Louis carrying AR-15s. What has happened to us?”
What has happened to us, indeed. The amendment, which would have banned the carrying of firearms by minors in public without adult supervision, was rejected by a 104 to 39 vote this last week. Republicans claimed it an “unnecessary” infringement on Second Amendment rights. Again, I have to ask: “What about the more important human right to life itself, the first of the three ‘inalienable rights’ stated in our nation’s own Declaration of Independence?” In defending the rejection, Republican state Rep. Tony Lovasco, representing a St. Louis suburb, argued that the teens’ carrying assault rifles “doesn’t actually mean that they’re going to harm someone. We don’t know that yet.” Of course, the precise purpose, and likely the only practical purpose, of these military-grade “tools” is to threaten or take human life, thereby bestowing upon the wielder a degree of power he would not otherwise have. And minors should have such unchecked power? The pretense of naivete shown by politicians like Mr. Lovasco, who are obviously in the pockets of the NRA, is deplorable (no, I have no problem using this term in these egregious cases).
“We don’t charge people with crimes because we think they’re going to hurt someone,” Lovasco added to his statement. Apparently he and his fellow Republican House members have no interest in the even more important task of PREVENTING A CRIME, especially a murder or multiple murders, and thereby SAVING HUMAN LIVES. In 2017 Republicans overrode Democratic Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of their thoroughly irresponsible bill: no safety training, no criminal background checks, not even a gun permit required to carry concealed firearms in public places. Though most law enforcement in rural Missouri traditionally have been sympathetic to the NRA, this is already beginning to change as authorities see the tragic consequences of such policies in urban areas.
Wyatt Earp and his brothers, along with Doc Holliday later, knew that the McLaurys, the Clantons, Ringo, the Cowboy Outlaw gang, and in general the cowboys who came off the cattle drives could not be trusted not to use their hip-holstered revolvers to intimidate, injure, and even kill the citizens of the towns they terrorized. The Earps took the severest of measures—confiscating guns, for example—to bring peace, and towns like Wichita, Tombstone, Deadwood, Dodge City, and Abilene, throughout the “wild west,” all adopted the strictest of gun laws. The inevitable confrontations, including the famous “Shootout at the OK Corral,” came about mainly because of city ordinances requiring visitors (the cowboys) to leave their firearms at the local saloon or stable. Do we need similar measures now? Hopefully not, but the truth is that gun deaths in public places are at the highest rate ever and steadily increasing.
The idea that our nation became great because of the freedom to threaten to “shoot ‘em up” is silly nonsense. It took decades of chaotic violence before peace was brought to many frontier towns, mainly because of the widespread proliferation and public threat of human-killing firearms throughout our nation. One simply should not have to fear for one’s life standing in the post office, or waiting in line at the grocery store, or sitting with one’s family in church. Does the sullen young man in the next pew have a chip on his shoulder? And does he have a nine-millimeter automatic in his pocket?
Sam J Duckworth
Feb 16, 2023
duckworthsam 