Writing at Your Black Bloggers [5], Dr. Wilmer J. Leon makes the case that we're not doing nearly enough to keep the nation's kids safe from harm.
... The President is correct. We're not doing enough. Elected representatives such as President Obama and NY Mayor Bloomberg have correctly said that these tragedies must end. Honestly, they won't. In a democracy where individual liberty is sacrosanct, there's no law or other government action that can prevent a deranged individual from exacting revenge on innocent victims. What a sensible society can do is make it much more difficult for deranged individuals to acquire assault style or personal weapons of mass destruction.
Bloomberg recently stated, "Nobody questions the second amendment's right to bear arms ... " That's just wrong. As the Honorable Judge Reggie B. Walton wrote in 2004, "For more than sixty years following the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Miller (1939), there was little judicial debate regarding the scope of the Second Amendment, as almost every circuit court interpreted Miller as rejecting the notion that the Second Amendment provided individuals a constitutional right to possess firearms." The NRA and gun manufacturers have placed strong money behind a constitutionally weak argument.
It's time for a peace loving enlightened society to do away with the public's ability to purchase assault style weapons and extended clips for handguns. Hunters don't need them and they serve no socially redeeming value. There should be mandatory background checks for all purchases of firearms at all stores and venues in this country. These policies would help to take the "mass" out of mass murder.
Read Dr. Wilmer J. Leon's entire piece at Your Black Bloggers. [5]
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.
Like The Root on Facebook [6]. Follow us on Twitter [7].
Comments
Comments on Twitter