Possibly it's time for responsible gun owners to consider that the
ability to fire six bullets per second is less precious—even as a
principle, even as an expression of a basic right—than the welfare of
our communities. Would a ban on assault rifles (like the .223
carried by the Newtown shooter) really harm the republic more than the loss of so much human potential? How, exactly?
I'm
a fierce defender of the Bill of Rights. But when the gun lobby invokes
the Second Amendment, citing the wisdom of 18th century landowners
who were writing of muskets and militias, to justify 21st century
military-grade ordnance in the hands of private citizens—that, to me, is
a principle that has been pushed into decadence. It's less about
freedom than fetishism.
At some point, ideology has to give way to humanity.
For God's sake, let it be now.
