Foundational liberties withstand fire

Owned and published by UMHB, The Bells is a biweekly publication. This content was previously published in print on the Opinions page. Opinions expressed in this section do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or the university.

Posted By Stacy Fannin on Feb 8, 2011

The Second Amendment states that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Lately however, some Americans are having second thoughts on whether the United States should or should not keep this provision in our Constitution.

Yes, the world we live in today is considerably different than when our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution more than 200 years ago, but that doesn’t mean we should no longer have gun rights.

Having guns is a part of the American way of life. People have them to protect their families or to go hunting. If our right to bear arms is taken away, there will be such an influx of animal population, the U.S. will not know what to do.

The debate about guns has been heated lately, especially since the shooting in Arizona where a man went on a shooting rampage, killing six including a U.S. judge and a 9-year-old girl. Among those injured was U.S. Rep. Gabrielle   Giffords.

This was without a doubt, a devastating event, and probably would have never occurred if the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, would have never been able to purchase a gun.

But just because nut cases like Loughner and many others twist our right to make it as evil, doesn’t mean that having guns and having the right to buy them is evil. The people are the evil ones, not the weapon.

So how does one go about attempting to resolve this issue? It wouldn’t completely fix the problem, but instead of just having the simplicity of buying a gun over the counter at any gun store or even Wal-Mart, the seller of the gun needs to be stricter and make an executive decision on whether the buyer is wanting it for other reasons.

Of course, this wouldn’t get rid of the problem completely because there are “ordinary” people who have a clean history that just crack, but it would alleviate the problem.

Recently, an expression has gained popularity. “If guns kill people, then spoons make people fat and pencils misspell words.” Though it may be childish, this statement makes a good point.

We don’t ration food, so why take our guns away?

There should also be rules on where one can take guns. A lawsuit has developed at Idaho University where a student wants the ability to have his firearms with him while living on    campus.

Are they kidding? No college student should ever have the need to be in possession of a gun.

Yes, guns are powerful things capable of causing horrific damage, even death. However, just because a small group of people want to spread evil and terror, taking away a right that has been with the American people for centuries is ludicrous.