27 December 2012
A Mission for the NRA
In its response to the Newtown, CT massacre, the National Rifle Association has missed an opportunity to transform its message to its gun-owning membership and the American public in general. It has espoused the unrestricted possession of firearms by U.S. citizens as a constitutional right that allows individuals to defend our nation’s liberty, as well as to enjoy the sporting use of guns and to protect themselves and their families from violent attack. The circumstances of the Connecticut grade school shooting, however, demonstrated the risk we take by not accepting the duty to take active responsibility for enforcing general adherence to common behavioral practices that are necessary to make a democracy work.
Yes, respect for individual freedoms, like the right to bear arms, is important. However, equally important are the demands that a democratic society makes on its citizens so that the exercise of such freedoms stays within the bounds needed for reciprocity. Whoever knew the shooter well, starting with his mother, had the obligation to prevent his access to the weapons that he showed the ability to use in an orgy of violence when his mental imbalance apparently and inevitably flew out of control.
There are many other ways in which the peacefulness, solvency, and stability of our nation is potentially threatened by our lackadaisical attitude toward the vigilance required of every capable member of a truly functional democracy. The continued existence of our democracy in anything but name is ultimately more threatened by indifference to the obligations of citizenship than by a possible attack by a foreign power or a group of terrorists. Certainly, the tragedy caused by a haywire gunman would be better avoided by preventing his access to weapons than by arming every potential venue for a shooting spree. The NRA would make it a worthy mission to lead its members in advocating the citizen vigilance needed to anticipate problems that arise from widespread gun ownership. This advocacy would also give the NRA a function to perform vis a vis unarmed civilians.
In its response to the Newtown, CT massacre, the National Rifle Association has missed an opportunity to transform its message to its gun-owning membership and the American public in general. It has espoused the unrestricted possession of firearms by U.S. citizens as a constitutional right that allows individuals to defend our nation’s liberty, as well as to enjoy the sporting use of guns and to protect themselves and their families from violent attack. The circumstances of the Connecticut grade school shooting, however, demonstrated the risk we take by not accepting the duty to take active responsibility for enforcing general adherence to common behavioral practices that are necessary to make a democracy work.
Yes, respect for individual freedoms, like the right to bear arms, is important. However, equally important are the demands that a democratic society makes on its citizens so that the exercise of such freedoms stays within the bounds needed for reciprocity. Whoever knew the shooter well, starting with his mother, had the obligation to prevent his access to the weapons that he showed the ability to use in an orgy of violence when his mental imbalance apparently and inevitably flew out of control.
There are many other ways in which the peacefulness, solvency, and stability of our nation is potentially threatened by our lackadaisical attitude toward the vigilance required of every capable member of a truly functional democracy. The continued existence of our democracy in anything but name is ultimately more threatened by indifference to the obligations of citizenship than by a possible attack by a foreign power or a group of terrorists. Certainly, the tragedy caused by a haywire gunman would be better avoided by preventing his access to weapons than by arming every potential venue for a shooting spree. The NRA would make it a worthy mission to lead its members in advocating the citizen vigilance needed to anticipate problems that arise from widespread gun ownership. This advocacy would also give the NRA a function to perform vis a vis unarmed civilians.
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