“After the slaughter of 14 students and three adults in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day (2018), parents demanded new laws and students lit up social media. They registered young voters and organized a massive rally called the March For Our Lives.
“They called their movement Never Again.
“Then it happened again — 94 days later. Eight students and two teachers were mowed down by a gunman at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. And it happened again and again, in dribs and drabs, on street corners, in backyards and in homes: young people obliterated by gunfire.
“The 12-month period starting Feb. 14, 2018, saw nearly 1,200 lives snuffed out. That’s a Parkland every five days, enough victims to fill three ultra-wide Boeing 777s. The true number is certainly higher because no government agency keeps a real-time tally and funding for research is restricted by law.”
This is more than just a tragedy – it’s absolutely obscene. If people want to play with semi-automatic firearms, they ought to join the military (National Guard included) to do so. Otherwise, the Second Amendment should be interpreted in an “originalist” sense – you can have as many rifled or smooth-bore black powder flintlock weapons as you want but nothing newer or more “modern”. Those were the arms with which the Constitution’s authors were familiar – so all those “originalist” legal scholars ought to man up and tell the NRA to take a flying leap.
“After the slaughter of 14 students and three adults in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day (2018), parents demanded new laws and students lit up social media. They registered young voters and organized a massive rally called the March For Our Lives.
“They called their movement Never Again.
“Then it happened again — 94 days later. Eight students and two teachers were mowed down by a gunman at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. And it happened again and again, in dribs and drabs, on street corners, in backyards and in homes: young people obliterated by gunfire.
“The 12-month period starting Feb. 14, 2018, saw nearly 1,200 lives snuffed out. That’s a Parkland every five days, enough victims to fill three ultra-wide Boeing 777s. The true number is certainly higher because no government agency keeps a real-time tally and funding for research is restricted by law.”
Source: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article224680840.html
This is more than just a tragedy – it’s absolutely obscene. If people want to play with semi-automatic firearms, they ought to join the military (National Guard included) to do so. Otherwise, the Second Amendment should be interpreted in an “originalist” sense – you can have as many rifled or smooth-bore black powder flintlock weapons as you want but nothing newer or more “modern”. Those were the arms with which the Constitution’s authors were familiar – so all those “originalist” legal scholars ought to man up and tell the NRA to take a flying leap.