Due to the complaints concerning the use of a gun sound effect in the early version of my
recent TV spot on development in Burlington, I want to clearly state my position on
guns and their regulation. First of all, I agree that the sound effect was unnecessary and inappropriate, and also distracted attention from the ad's message about growth. I apologize to any who were offended. In responding personally to those who didn't like the ad, however, I learned that some of the critics are strong second amendment advocates who oppose any gun regulation. I disagree. I have long advocated strong gun regulation. The following is an essay on the overall topic that I researched and published in 2013.
To see the original, go to Armed and Dangerous: Truth-Out.
Twenty years ago, in a letter to The Washington Post, Gun Owners of America Director Larry Pratt made the argument that the only thing separating Americans from the oppressed peoples of China and the Baltic States was their access to weapons. “When the police have all the guns,” he wrote, “brutal attacks against defenseless citizens will become as common here as in other oppressed regimes. This is why gun owners oppose the banning of so-called assault rifles.”
Does this sound familiar? It should. The same argument is being made today by that organization and other pro-gun groups. The only way to prevent a police state, which many people claim is in the works -- in secret, is to allow the wide and unregulated distribution of all sorts of weapons.
This logic, which assumes that any regulation is the first step toward confiscation, represents the paranoid and individualist mentality that for decades has dominated debate about gun violence in the US. We are free, the argument goes, only as long as we can defend ourselves with guns not only against criminals but also against the law and the State.
A related argument is that the federal government should not be allowed to regulate guns; this is a matter best left to states. And if a state wants to do nothing, perhaps because the gun lobby can defeat candidates who back even modern reforms, or because the crime rate isn’t soaring or no mass shootings have recently occurred, people in neighboring states must simply spend more money to crack down on crime and violence. It’s simply the price of freedom.
Such arguments are based on the notion that government should not meddle in the affairs of individuals. Guns are not the problem, opponents add, it’s people – in other words, human nature. But most homicides in the US are committed with guns; in other words, people with guns kill more people than those without them. There are 270 million privately owned firearms in this country. Use by children has increased in recent years, as has the stockpiling of exotic weapons by extreme groups and criminal organizations.
Considering this context, it seems reasonable to ask what is more threatening to freedom and security, unrestrained gun ownership or some government oversight? The arguments against regulation tend to fall into three categories: 1) the right to bear arms is constitutionally protected, 2) gun control won’t reduce violence in society, and 3) gun laws are a serious threat to freedom.
Do these assertions hold up to scrutiny?
Arms and the Law
The roots of US ideas about the relationship between weapons and society go back to the Florentine political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, who noted that military service should be the responsibility of every citizen, but soldiering the professional of none. Basing his ideas on the Roman suspicion of professional soldiers, he concluded that military force should only be used to assure the common good. This idea of citizens bearing arms in defense of the State, to avoid the potential tyranny of a standing army, was translated by the authors of the Bill of Rights into the Second Amendments and helps to explain its unusual wording:
“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Many libertarians have interpreted this sentence to mean that individuals are guaranteed the right to possess firearms for their personal defense or for any other use they choose. What this fails to acknowledge is the meaning of citizenship as it was understood two centuries ago. In the 18th century, citizenship directly involved militia service for men, which was part of the commitment to the greater public good. An armed citizenry did not mean an armed population. In fact, even then it was clearly understood that access to weapons was a communal rather than an individual right.
This dynamic was made clear in various declarations of rights predating the Bill of Rights. For example, Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, adopted on June 12, 1776, said that a well-regulated militia, trained to arm, was the safe defense of a free State. That and subsequent variations adopted by other states made it clear that the idea was trained citizens, organized in militias, providing for a common defense. The word “people” refers to this collective role, contrasting a militia to a standing army.
Article 17 of
Vermont’s Declaration of Rights, adopted in 1777, followed this logic by
proclaiming:
“That the people
have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the State; and as
standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be
kept up; and that the military ought to be kept under strict subordination to
and governed by the civil power.”
Vermont’s Article
9, which dealt with the matter of conscientious objection to military service,
made it clear that “bearing arms” meant military service. It said that no one
could be compelled to carry or use a gun, even though rights also involved personal
service. The solution was that those who chose not to serve would pay an
appropriate sum on money. Bearing arms was directly linked to the collective
responsibility for defense.
Several states
specifically said that criminals or people involved in rebellion could be
disarmed. In other words, the security of society took precedence over an
individual’s right to have weapons. Thus, when early Americans spoke or an
armed citizenry’s role in preserving freedom, they were talking about a militia
linked to the classical idea of citizenship. There is no record of anyone
arguing, during the passage of the Bill of Rights, that individuals had a right
to bear arms outside the ranks of a militia. On the contrary, that provoked
fear for the stability of the new Republic.
The great
constitutional commentator of the period, Justice Joseph Story, noted that what
the Second Amendment actually guaranteed was a “well-regulated militia.” The
fear was that without one the country might be vulnerable to invasion, domestic
insurrection, or a military takeover by some ruler. We needed a militia, Story
said, because it was impractical to keep people armed without some
organization.
The fear of a
militarized society or a federal government monopoly on force is not, by
definition, a form of paranoia. On the other hand, it is an overreach to claim
that individuals have a fundamental right to protect themselves by stockpiling
weapons. For those who want a counter-force to our national military, the
direction to look is greater autonomy of organized local or state militias, not
the right of people to become self-appointed guardians or vigilantes.
Legal Precedents
Despite the endless
repetition of claims that individuals have a constitutional right to be armed,
this is not consistent with the weight of legal opinion. In fact, a series of
US Supreme Court cases have made the situation quite clear. In U.S. v.
Cruikshank (1876), the Court ruled that the right “of bearing arms for a lawful
purpose is not a right granted by the Constitution.” Ten years later, in Presser
v. Illinois, the Court noted that although states have the right to form
militias, they are also free to regulate the circumstances under which citizens
can carry weapons. This view was upheld in an 1894 case, Miller v. Texas.
In 1939, federal
gun regulations established by the National Firearms Act of 1934 were
challenged. The decision in that case was unanimous. The federal
government has the right, the Court ruled, to regulate the transportation and
possession of firearms, and individuals only have a right to be armed in
connection with military service. In 1980, Justice Harry Blackmun commented
that this case represented the Courts’ basic thinking on gun control.
On June 8, 1981,
the Village of Morton Grove, Illinois passed an ordinance banning the
possession of handguns, except by police, prison officials, members of the
military, recognized collectors and those who needed them for their work.
Predictably, the National Rifle Association challenged the law. Both the
Federal District Court and a Federal Appeals Court rejected their
argument, saying that there is no individual right to bear arms, the ordinance
was reasonable, and the right to have weapons applies only to well-regulated
militias.
The US Supreme
Court refused to even hear the case.
Guns and Crime
Sentiment in favor
on some form of gun control fluctuates, but has tended to grow for decades. In
1968, 71 percent were in favor, peaking at more than 90 percent in 1981. In one
Gallop Poll the Brady Bill won 95 percent support. Most people obviously see
some connection between the availability of firearms and the rate of crimes
involving guns, and a variety of studies support these views. Nevertheless,
opponents insist that stronger laws won’t have an impact.
Interstate
trafficking of weapons is an enormous problem, undercutting the argument
sometimes heard that the only reason for gun control is a high murder rate in a
specific state. This provincial argument ignores interdependence, our
responsibility to our neighbors, and basic facts. The only effective way to
control the black market for guns, through gun shows and private sales, is a
national registry of all purchasers, along with tracing and prosecution of the
interstate traffickers. This does not involve rounding up handguns, but it does
mean acknowledging that the situation is out of control and that saving lives
takes priority over protecting a form of free enterprise that has turned
monstrous.
Leaving the matter
in the hands of individual communities or states may sound appropriately populous.
But it avoids the issue. In 2011 guns were involved in more than 32,000 US
deaths, 11,100 of them murders, as well as thousands of rapes, hundreds of
thousands of robberies, and about a half million assaults. The vast majority of
people convicted of violent crimes obtained their weapons either at a gun shows
or on the black market. That suggests, of course, that background checks
alone will not make a huge dent in the problem. But a reduction of twenty
percent would significant; perhaps one less child killed every day and fewer
rapes and murders.
Many crimes
involving guns are impulsive, suggesting that a waiting period could help in
some cases. Of course, the underlying causes of violence and crime must
also be addressed. But for those among the 20 percent who might be saved by
modest reforms that would be more meaningful than any statistic or slogan.
The NRA is
fond of saying that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” It’s a tidy
little argument but let’s get real: people with guns can kill people far more
effortlessly than people with knives, deadly fighting skills or poison. The FBI
has assembled evidence on whether stricter laws make a difference. For example,
after Massachusetts passed a law requiring a mandatory jail sentence for
carrying a handgun without a license murders involving handguns dropped by
almost 50 percent. Robberies went down 35 percent. After South Carolina
tightened its handgun purchase requirement in the 1990s, the murder rate
dropped 28 percent.
Registration and
background checks are no panacea. However, they do keep weapons out of the
hands of some criminals, addicts and kids. They can also reduce the number of
murder and suicides that result from being able to buy a gun in state of rage
or depression. Drivers licenses and automobile registration do not prevent all
auto accidents – but they help. To drive a car, a potentially dangerous
vehicle, we agree that people need to be properly trained and meet minimum
standards. Similar requirements, in the form of gun safety programs and
practical tests for the owners of lethal weapons, would be a step toward
national sanity.
Weapons and Freedom
No freedom is
absolute. Even in the most decentralized and self-managed society, people must
accept some social responsibilities and limits in exchange for liberty.
Ideally, in a free
society citizens participate directly in making the rules governing their
social contract.But even Michael Bakunin, an anarchist philosopher who took the
practice of liberty to a place some might consider extreme, did not ignore than
importance of social responsibility. Human beings can only fulfill their free
individuality by complementing it through all the individuals around them, he
argued. Bakunin was contemptuous of the type of individualism that asserts the
well-being on one person or group to the detriment of others.
“Total isolation is
intellectual, moral and material death.” he wrote.
When a disturbed
teenager or disgruntled adult commits mass murder it has nothing to do with
liberty. People obviously do not have the right to abuse or destroy the lives
and liberties of others. Yet, when the issue is guns, many Americans
essentially argue that the freedom to be armed is more important that the right
to be safe. Actually, many say that being armed is the only way to be safe, and
therefore any restriction on the access to weapons is a profound threat to
freedom.
Allowing the
government to take any step, argue the opponents of gun regulation, is the
beginning of tyranny. From this vantage point government is the enemy. It
would be naive to argument that the government always uses its power
wisely. The political system cries out for change, if not transformation,
if we are ever to have a society that promotes real equality, justice, respect
for diversity, and self-management. Yet achieving this, empowering people and
making step-by-step progress, requires an appeal to hope rather than fear.
Arguing that the only way to be free is to oppose and resist government, in other
words knee-jerk rejection, plays into the hands of the most reactionary forces
in society.
Suspicion of
centralized power was clearly a concern of those who created the country. It is
still justified and relevant. But the form that most threatens freedom in
the 21st century is the power of powerful, unaccountable institutions, most of
them private, that can influence elections and shaped government policies. Many
of these same interests aggressively argue that freedom means “freedom from
government.” Such appeals are a convenient way to prevent intrusions into the
private “right” to profit and pollute at the expense of the general health and
well-being – to exploit in the name of freedom.
In the 1970s a
Trilateral Commission study candidly concluded that a central objective of
corporate planning in the coming era would be to lower expectations. People
needed to be convinced to expect less, to accept a reduced standard of living
and stop demanding that government solve all their problems. Reagan was
not a Trilateralist, but he was an effective spokesman for the same position.
The Clinton administration, although committed rhetorically to “activist”
government, embraced a similar social and economic agenda.
The bottom line is
this: Effective regulation, combined with a comprehensive national database and
a training program for gun users, would establish over time that less access to
guns leads to less violent crime. This has been the case in Europe and some US
states. Success would help shatter the myth that government is the problem, and
that people are better off armed to the teeth and on their own.
The debate over
guns is not about restricting rights. That’s the cover story, an assumption
promoted by the gun lobby to shape public perceptions. It’s not even about
“control,” any more than the fight for affordable housing is secretly a fight
for rent control. The goal is security, freedom from the fear and anxiety
sweeping across this over-armed society.
A well-regulated
militia is a altruistic idea, certainly preferable to the military-industrial
complex. But almost 300 million guns in private hands is – pardon the
expression – overkill.
In Switzerland,
most adult between 20 and 30 males become members of a militia. They receive
training, rifles and ammunition from the government that are kept in homes. However, handguns are tightly controlled and anyone who wants one
must have a background check and obtain a permit.
In 2010 there were
40 Swiss homicides involving firearms, for a rate of 0.70 per 100,000. The US rate was 3.6, or five times as high.
Greg Guma says Burlington is facing a turning point and it's prompted him to run as an independent for mayor. "I see myself as a community builder and a progressive manager," Guma said.
