In the 1980s, Mothers Against Drunk Driving took on the establishment, and entrenched established ideas, to make our highways safer. They fought an uphill battle which they ultimately won.
We're faced with a dilemma: Do we allow an outdated constitutional right to trump public safety? The Founding Fathers could not foresee how our republic's education system has evolved into schools with hundreds or thousands of students, the rise of weaponry that will hold and fire hundreds of rounds per minute, or the foundation and continuance of an organization whose existence triumphs violence through its cryptic mission.
The NRA purports to uphold the Second Amendment in its honest intent, but the Founding Fathers would have come down on the side of What's Best for the Republic rather than an anachronistic idealism, it seems clear.
Yes, it will require vigorous debate. Yes, honest citizens should be allowed to keep and bear arms. But no, assault weapons have no place in the hands of teens, the deranged, pure criminals, or anyone whose right and role in our society doesn't demand their mindful ownership.
Haven't we learned our lesson just in this one year alone? I fear that if we haven't, we deserve what we've wrought.
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