By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
Ninth Amendment: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The brilliant James Madison wrote right into the Bill of Rights that all the rights protected under the Constitution are protected equally… and by extension, that it’s up to us to figure out how to work it out if the people start to believe that certain rights are blocking the pursuit of other rights.
None of our constitutional rights stand alone— they are all together in a big Jenga tower whose strength lies in maintaining the tower.
Pulling out one block and throwing it away weakens the tower. Pulling one out and pretending that one single block is the foundation of the whole tower is just as silly.
I’m talking about guns. Trying to anyway. We’ll see what happens.
NRA safety programs– I’ve taken a few– always start with the responsibility of someone owning or even just handling a gun.
Responsibility, and respecting the power you hold in your hand when you are holding a gun. We have to respect guns. We have to be responsible with them.
I think part of respect and responsibility is to admit what guns are, in clear language, without judgement.
Guns are for killing. Guns exist to kill. Period. If you say your gun is for protection, you are saying your gun is there so you can kill people trying to harm you. If you are a hunter, your gun is to kill animals.
Even if you just enjoy target practice, chances are you are shooting at human shaped targets or animal facsimile targets. You are practicing to kill.
Every single gun owner reading this hopes never to kill, but part of the respect and responsibility of owning a gun is knowing that when there’s a bullet in the chamber, it becomes a possibility.
It’s cut and dried, and it’s like nothing else. There are no analogies for guns. It’s not like a car or a knife or sugar or fat or whatever else might kill people, too.
It’s such a special case that’s it’s enshrined in the constitution– guns are so special that a firearm is the only actual, tangible thing James Madison thought needed to be protected in the Bill of Rights.
In the 2nd amendment, he wrote Americans have the right to have a gun in case they might have to kill someone trying to take their freedom or security.
The problem is, the number of people who have guns but don’t have the proper respect for guns or are responsible in using them is clearly growing. It’s growing to the point where I fear for young people going to school. I fear for old people walking at the mall. I won’t go to the movies– mostly because movies are terrible these days, but also– mass shootings.
My version of “securing the blessings of liberty” doesn’t involve my having to pack heat to go to buy a gallon of milk. Maybe yours does, but that’s not a second amendment issue– it’s a ninth amendment issue.
This is a uniquely American problem and needs a uniquely American approach to solving it. The American way says, “no right trumps any other,” but it also says, “I respect your position and I hope you can respect mine.”
We need to find common ground to find a solution here. Aren’t you sick of watching people die while you scream F@#$ YOU at people over the fence?
