February 2, 2011
The
Page 19
Portland Observer Black History Month
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tUECAUSW . -
a t ciAVfc HtCfcSSAW/
"To D Ê S P R O V O U R
WA
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Wanted: Gun Laws for 21 st-Century Weapons
Our need to evolve
with the times
D onald K aul
B e f o re
th e
T ucson
shootings are lost forever in
the m ists o f tim e, w e m ight do
well to ponder the various re
actions to the outrage.
President Barack O bam a responded as a presi
dent should, w ith dignity and eloquence I
thought his speech at the m em orial service in
A rizona w as one o f his strongest. He set the bar
pretty high.
"If this tragedy prom pts reflection and d e
bate, as it should, let's m ake sure it's w orthy o f
those w e have lost," he said. A m en to that.
H ouse S peaker John B oehner, w ho has set
the leadership bar fairly low during his tim e in
C ongress, didn't clear it. Justifying the H ouse
not passing a resolution to honor the victim s, he
said, "W e feel a litany o f unw anted em otions
that no reso lu tio n co u ld possib ly capture."
B oehner choked up a little w hen he said it, but
he also chokes up at basketball gam es.
He then refused the president's offer o f a ride
to A rizona for the m em orial, preferring to stay a
few m inutes at a sim ilar W ashington event b e
fore going o ff to a fund-raiser.
C ongress responded in a congressional way.
It issued sym pathetic noises and then talked
by
about increasing s e c u rity -fo r m em bers o f C o n
gress. N o m urm ur on gun control legislation.
The A m erican p e o p le - a lot o f th e m -re -
sponded by buying guns. G un sales surged in
the w ake o f the shooting. A pparently people
see them selves standing in a shopping m all,
taking dead aim on a gunm an w ho's spraying the
place w ith bullets, and bringing him dow n with
a single shot. Lots o f luck w ith that. Life seldom
im itates C lint E astw ood m ovies. Even w hen it
does, you rarely get to be C lint.
Sarah Palin, the R epublican Party's an sw er to
E va Peron, took the opportunity to excoriate
"journalists and pundits" w ho dared to link the
som etim es-violent rhetoric she and her T ea Party
cohort use in political battle.
"W ithin hours o f a tragedy unfolding, jo u r
nalists and pundits should not be m an u factu r
ing a blo o d libel that serves only to incite the
very hatred and violence that they purport to
condem n," she said. "That is reprehensible."
In o th er w ords, sh e—the D ivine S arah—is the
victim here, not the people lying in their blood
in T ucson.
In any case, "blood libel"—an ancient and
absurd b elief am ong anti-S em ites that Jew s use
the blood o f C hristian children in religious ritu
als—is a curious phrase to use in connection
with the gunning dow n o f a Jew ish law m aker.
"W e know violence isn't the answ er," said
Sarah. "W hen we take up arm s, w e re talking
about o u r vote."
O r, to quote H um pty D um pty: "W hen I use a
w ord, it m eans ju st w hat I choose it to m e a n -
neither m ore nor less."
I guess it was just bad luck that Ms. Palin put
a gun sight over G abrielle G iffords' district during
the run-up to last year's elections. Poor Palin;
poor, poor Palin. She ju st can't catch a break.
I know I am speaking to the w ind. But after all
is said and done, the T ucson shootings stand as
a condem nation o f our gun la w s -o r lack o f them.
T o believe, as the Suprem e C ourt seem s to do,
that the C onstitution guarantees the right o f
ev ery person to buy a w eapon that can kill
dozens in seconds is to believe that the m en w ho
w rote that docum ent w ere idiots.
T hey w eren't. They w ere 18th-century c re a
tures o f the E nlightenm ent w ho w ere conscious
o f their lim itations in laying dow n rules for the
form ation o f a nation.
T he country w ould evolve, they knew , and
the C onstitution w ould have to ex p an d and
evolve w ith it. W eapons o f the 21st century
aren't those o f the 18th.
Yet a m ajority o f our S uprem e C ourt chooses
to ignore the "w ell-regulated M ilitia" part o f the
Second A m endm ent and focus ex clu siv ely on
citizens' right to bear arm s. For this they w ent to
law school?
I fear that "Suprem e C ourt" is b ecom ing an
oxym oron, like "jum bo shrim p."
OtherWords columnist Donald Kaul lives in
Ann Arbor, Mich.
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