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Morgan Barnes

Law Enforcement Officer, government agency

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Has the time come for the U.S Second Amendment to be repealed or amended?

After yesterdays tragic shooting in Newtown CT and the worst year ever for firearm related deaths and mass killings , has the time for the US Government to tell the Gun Lobby it is over and repeal or amend "the right of the people to bear arms".

Should it be repealed on the grounds that when originally written it was for a smaller population to defend the "State" and meant for Muskets and flintlocks not semi automatics and military hardware, which makes it no longer viable on account of relevance to this day and age.

That Militia should be held to Law Enforcement agencies, Military and government controlled Para military agencies, with a show need, clause for people such as certain Primary producers etc.

Is it time to tell the NRA and the Gun Lobby there will be no more "collateral" damage no matter how much you donate to the "Party"

What would be the best way for the government to enforce such a law???

And please no Guns do not kill people, people kill people debates it was people who invented firearms in the first place.

The time has come to realise it is mainly our children who pay the ultimate price for lack of diligence in monitoring a problem that has been there for far too many years.

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Closing Statement from Morgan Barnes

Firstly I would like to say I did not flag or delete anyone's comments I am perfectly capable of speaking for myelf however I did get frustrated and had some comments deleted myself.
As I write this President Obama has signed 23 executive orders inline with Colleen's post from yesterday from New York.

I have to admit I am a little disappointed that we could not of just discussed the issue in a more calm, critical and logical manner and be able to offer solutions as well as recognised the underling causes, as this is a forum for open ideas and thinking, Then again we are dealing with human nature.
To those of you from the International community thank you for your imput and allowing people to see the different views helds in different parts of the world on this subject.
I will not deny that the Constitution and The Bill Of Rights are the backbone of America, but remember it was written by man not given by god and man can take it away or amend it, if he really wants too.
I am a believer that in the 21st Century we should use it to advance humankind to address the problems of the world and improve it for all. It won't be easy but we have to start somewhere or we risk implementing our own destruction.
I hope that this be a positive start and and an even more positive step in which the US can show the way.
Once again I thank you all for your contributions

"In a progressive country change in constant : change is inevitable "Benjamen Disraeli

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    Paul Kirhagis

    • +2
    Jan 10 2013: http://factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/

    This article is a great neutral representation of current data that is available. I found it extremely interesting that both sides of this argument have little factual causation in terms of guns and how they effect crime or murder rates. A great read.
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      Andrew Wiggin

      • +1
      Jan 10 2013: Learned a lot. It is a good site.
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      Morgan Barnes

      • 0
      Jan 10 2013: Those are based on reported stats what about the unreported thing is you will never get an accurate number and stats as we well know can be manipulated to show anything you want.
      I like the more gun ownership but in less households hate to think of the arms cache some owners have then.
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        Paul Kirhagis

        • +1
        Jan 10 2013: Morgan,
        I apologize but I do not understand your response. The article addresses how incomplete or "bad" the data is and states more than a few times that any conclusion is impossible with the current data.
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          Morgan Barnes

          • 0
          Jan 10 2013: Maybe I was getting who's data is mixed up will read it a bit more closely, sorry about that

          but I had noticed with a lot of stats and articles that have been posted they have been very specific about the year of choice where the stats show the highest rate within for example a 10 year period.
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        Paul Kirhagis

        • 0
        Jan 10 2013: The article addresses various different statements from both sides of the arguments and how they are either exaggerated on fabricated to suit the needs of whoever makes them.

        The consensus among those who study the statistics is that the data cannot support a conclusion either way and until better data is acquired there is nothing in the numbers that can be used to further the agenda of either side of the argument.
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        Marianne Delongi

        • 0
        Jan 10 2013: We know how many innocent children were slaughtered at Waco..and that can be condoned by MB because it was law enforcement.
        If that massacre can be passed off as part of the learning curve, I guess MB would be happy if we put stickers on guns saying "DO NOT USE THIS TO KILL AN INNOCENT PERSON"...all things being equal.

    • Sean Dooley

      • +1
      Jan 10 2013: Thank you for the post....it goes to our earlier discussion on reasonable evaluation of our laws in light of current facts. Near the end of the article it concludes that the US is average in violence, but extremely high in deaths. (paraphrasing) It also concludes that concealed carry laws seem to be a wash....so what could explain the difference between the US and other developed countries that leads to more than 7000 extra deaths per year in the US? I maintain that people in other countires may be just as violent, but the US population is just much more effective at killing at the time of violence because we in the US have unfettered access to better weapons with which to kill. Every country has a violent population, we just let ours have the deadliest weapons, so the impact of the US violence is multiplied and deadlier. I'm no rocket scientist, but that is the one thing that sticks out as unquestionably different from other countries and in high coorrelation with the high gun homicide rate. Sure, mental health, TV, poverty rates, etc can all be considered contributing factors to differing degrees, but every country struggles to deal with those too. The 2 differences are our high homicide by gun rate, and our unfettered access to hi speed shooting weapons. Hmmmmm, draw your own conclusions.
      If you feel that unfettered access to all weapons is a neccessity to protect yourself from something, then that is fine. We just have to come to terms with the knowledge that (y)our national fear causes 19 unneeded deaths a day, and then decide if it is worth it.
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        Fred Lanisake

        • 0
        Jan 11 2013: We let ours have 'the deadliest weapons'? What, a rile that shoots without a lever action?

        I wonder how many homicides there are in North Korea.

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