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Jack is a graduate of Rutgers University where he majored in history. His career in the life and health insurance industry involved medical risk selection and brokerage management. Retired in Florida for over two decades after many years in NJ and NY, he occasionally writes, paints, plays poker, participates in play readings and is catching up on Shakespeare, Melville and Joyce, etc.

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Equality, Unarmed Police and the Gun Crisis

Important Announcement:   Between now and the next full posting on this blog, new items will continue to come up.  Rather than wait for the blog's next full posting, they will be added ... with the date they are added shown ... at the tail end of this posting.  Scroll down right now to read the ones already added to this particular posting, if any.  (And see recent prior postings as well.)    

I appreciate your visiting the blog today, but consider checking out what new stuff might be added to it every day!


Equality

The fundamental American principle of equality (that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights) enshrined in the Declaration of Independence was, all too sadly, compromised by the framers of the Constitution a dozen years later. It was a price they paid to preserve the new nation.  Consider that If they had not done so, we would not have had a ‘United’ States of America, but we might have had two separate nations or none at all. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln said that "a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free." 


Constitutional Compromise in 1789 Led to the Civil War

The framers had tried to do precisely that and failed miserably, ultimately resulting in the Civil War and three barely enforceable Amendments to our flawed Constitution which left wounds we are still trying to heal over a century and a half later.

Unarmed Police?

In the UK, only a small number of highly trained law enforcement officers are armed with guns. Most policing activities are carried out by officers (bobbies) with no more than batons, handcuffs, mace spray and occasionally, stun guns, plus the ability to call for highly trained and more heavily armed backup where necessary. Dealing with traffic violations, domestic disputes, passing a counterfeit bill or peddling cigarettes illegally does not require armed intervention and the use of force it can entail. 

But to accomplish this here, there must be a drastic reinterpretation of the Second Amendment back to its original intent so that unarmed officers are not endangered by armed civilians. There are far too many guns in the hands of the public and that number must be reduced for the UK’s approach to work in the United States.  Besides changing the way police carry out their duties, this would also address the problem of gun violence.

More on Guns in an Unsafe Country

The Second Amendment: "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."  Read On!

More mass shootings bring the Second Amendment into the spotlight again.  It was intended to enable the original States to assemble their citizens into armed militias to defend a State which might be threatened by the armed forces of the Federal government.  (Slavery-dependent Southern States feared that.) 

That is why we have a Second Amendment and that is the only reason.  This justification, which does not exist today, has been improperly applied to gun ownership, other than for the purpose, as the Amendment states, of enabling "free States," to have access to "well regulated militias."  It does not apply to entities other than States and certainly not to individuals, despite misinterpretations by Supreme Court Justices some of whom should go back to law school and also learn a bit about American history as well. Were he alive today, that would include the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Through tortured logic, the most recent Supreme Court rulings stupidly pretend that the Second Amendment's first thirteen words do not exist ... since the need for them has evaporated ... but that the remaining words remain.

Only when the Supreme Court recognizes this and gets its head on straight will the United States be a safe place to live. 

Throughout the years, the Second Amendment has been misinterpreted by Justices who should know better, making the right to bear arms even less restricted than the right to drive a car.  Guns should be allowed for hunting, target shooting and home protection. Period! There should be a massive buy-back by the Federal Government of the hundreds of millions of guns in circulation in this country as was done in Australia. 

Until the Second Amendment is properly re-interpreted by the SCOTUS and until those guns are “bought back,” we will continue to have mass shootings and the United States will remain an unsafe place to live.  

JL

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Item Added on April 18

News reports regarding the Indianapolis mass murderer at a Fed Ex operation indicated that his family had sought help for him, fearing he would commit "suicide by cop."  Their efforts went so far as the FBI intervening and taking away a shotgun from him.  In any event, he was able to subsequently purchase the weapons used in the shooting with no difficulty. 

Like the shooter in the Parkland school shooting a bit over three years ago, his behavior was predictable.  It would be impossible to maintain a 24/7 surveillance of the millions of Americans who fit the profiles of these shooters in order to stop the miniscule percentage who actually commit acts of gun violence.  The focus must be on the availabilty of guns.  Only the "buy back" and a re-interpretation of the Second Amendment as I pointed out yesterday, back to what the framers of the Constitution intended it to mean, will stop gun violence.  The focus must be on guns.  Meanwhile America remains an unsafe country.




Item Added on April 19

The Palm Beach Post published a letter from me today.  Here is its text. 

Slavery’s impact is felt to this day 

"A recent letter writer said that 'No Black person alive today has been affected by the events of more than 150 years ago.' ('Reparations for slavery ‘absurd’,' Tuesday) Anyone familiar with American history knows that is just not true. Ask any Black person.

And as for reparations, the German government indeed paid, and still does, pay them to Holocaust survivors.

Admittedly, it would be difficult to individually pay reparations to Blacks today, but certainly, such funds could be directed toward social, educational and economic ends which would benefit those shortchanged over the years in this country because of the color of their skin. Of course, any such funds should be kept out of the untrustworthy hands of state governments and be an entirely federal program."

Jack Lippman, Boynton Beach 



Item Added on April 21

Vaccinations and Politics

A USA Today article dealing with those who reject the idea of being vaccinated against Covid19 pointed out the political dichotomy of Americans in regard to this issue.  Of those who identify as Democrats, 79% have been, or intend to be, vaccinated and of those who identify as Republicans, only 46% have been or plan to be vaccinated, despite the recommendation of knowlegeable physicians and scientists.  The only explanation for this is the ignorance and gullibility of these Americans, many of whom still believe that the 45th president was re-elected and the election stolen from him. 


Item Added on April 22


Deaths Caused by Scalia's Reasoning

In D.C. vs Heller, the 2008 SCOTUS case which ruled against D.C.'s handgun restrictions, the late Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a lengthy, twisted, opinion which basically said that disregarding the first thirteen words of the Second Amendment did not affect the remainder of the Amendment.  The whole decision might be summed up in these words from his opinion: “a prefatory clause does not limit or expand the scope of the operative clause.”  

The Second Amendment's prefatory clause is shown in red and its operative clause is shown in blue in the text of the Amendment. 

"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."

This SCOTUS (5 to 4) decision has caused unnecessary gun violence in this country.


Item Added on April 23

Facial hair is popular today!



While all pre-Lincoln presidents were clean shaven, Honest Abe's beard was followed by a continuing assortment of mustashes and beards which lasted until Woodrow Wilson (with exception of Andrew Johnson and William McKinley).

 

Cruz Hiding Behind Follicles

Although presidents have been clean shaven since then, Texas Senator Ted Cruz is counting on the resurgence of the popularity of facial hair to get him nominated for President in 2024. It won't happen.



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