Second Amendment

The United States Has Become A Nation Promoting Deaths Of Young People!

The Republican Party and the conservative movement have taken stands that clearly promote deaths of young people!

The right for any American to own weapons of war (semi automatic AR-15s and similar brands) is more important than the fact that such weapons are slaughtering or harming thousands of Americans annually, and a large portion of those victims are children under the age 18 or young adults in their 20s.

But the right wing just offers “thoughts and prayers” and moves on, unperturbed by tragedy to do anything to limit such weapons, despite vast margins of Americans wanting action.

More young people are now victims of firearms, including those who commit suicide, than from automobile accidents.

Automobiles are safer due to government regulations, but the gun industry and the National Rifle Association lack any sense of empathy, compassion, and concern for the loss of life caused by their evil intentions.

And sadly, it is minority young people who are more often victims than whites, and that certainly has no impact on the racism so prevalent in the right wing “alternative universe”!

The Second Amendment when passed was used to “protect” slave owners from their own slaves and potential insurrection, and that mentality still exists 236 years after the Constitutional Convention!

Facts: States With Weak Gun Laws And High Gun Ownership Lead In Gun Deaths!

In the midst of the endless number of gun massacres occurring daily in America, and with children being the primary victims, statistics demonstrate the reality that Second Amendment advocates do not want to acknowledge.

States with weak gun laws and high gun ownership lead in Gun Deaths.

The six highest states in gun deaths are Mississippi, Wyoming, Louisiana, Alaska, Missouri, and Alabama, all with lax gun laws!

The five states with lowest gun death rates, all of which have strong gun control regulations, are Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New York!

Notice that it is Southern states which primarily have high death rates from guns, while Northeastern, highly urban states have low death rates from guns!

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, leading a Congressional hearing in New York City yesterday to go after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg due to prosecution and indictment of Donald Trump, comes from the Columbus, Ohio area, which has THREE times the crime rate of New York City!

Fox News Channel pedals lies and deceit, but it is clear that having stronger gun laws helps to lead to lower death rates, particularly among children!

It is clear that one major reason why Republicans, conservatives, Fox News Channel, and the National Rifle Association has no concern about death rates from guns, particularly among children, is the reality that many more African American children are victims than are white, Latino, or Asian children.

This is part of the continued racism and lack of concern, including police abuse against African American youths, so quick to shoot and kill, as compared to white youths!

Crazy, Tumultuous America 158 Years After The End Of The Civil War!

Today, April 9, marks the end of the American Civil War in 1865, 158 years ago!

Today, more than a century and a half since then, America is, arguably, more divided than it has ever been, including the tumultuous 1960s!

Now, the South, once Democratic and hardline on the issue of racial discrimination, is Republican and hardline on the issue of racial discrimination!

Now, the nation that would not give women the right to vote or basic legal rights in the 19th century, is in the process of stripping away a woman’s right to control her own body, and decide whether she wishes to have children every time she engages in sexual intercourse, by choice or by force!

Now, we have a former President, Donald Trump, who has abused power massively, much more than even Richard Nixon a half century ago, and the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower bows to him in a cult like fashion, ready to put him back to power and destroy all of the progress of American democracy in the past century or more!

America is on the cusp of the possible destruction of the Constitution and the rule of law, and is on a tear to provoke violence and bloodshed in the determination that the Second Amendment, which has been horribly distorted, shall rule supreme, and that anyone, no matter how mentally disturbed he or she is, is entitled to weapons of war to use on American streets!

America, a nation built on the contributions of immigrants, is once again promoting nativism against people of different colors, languages, customs, and religions, with no sense of the dignity of all human beings!

America, a nation built on freedom of religion, and separation of church and state, is now seeing religious extremists attempting to promote a national theology of white supremacy Christianity, leading to antisemitism, anti Muslim, anti Hindu, and all other religious beliefs in the name of a supposed absolute deity!

America, a nation built on three equal and balanced government branches, is now witnessing the judicial branch gone amuck, in its determination to promote an absolute, narrow minded version of the Constitution–Originalism–which refers on the nation as it was in 1787 at the time of the Constitutional Convention, as if the 236 years since then are an aberration of the original principles of the Founding Fathers!

A nation which does not grow and change is a nation in decline, and in a world where there are massive threats that create danger, that can only undermine the nation which has been a model for the world of the possibilities of expansion of basic human rights!

This is a time for reflection, and for determination NOT to allow the evil forces which surround us to achieve their wicked goals!

Donald Trump’s Full Scale Attack On The First Amendment, While Endorsing No Limit On The Second Amendment, A Danger To America

Donald Trump has mounted a full scale attack on the First Amendment freedom of speech and press, while endorsing no limit on the Second Amendment, despite the recent Las Vegas Massacre, and is therefore a danger to America.

If it were left up to Trump, many cable TV channels, such as CNN and MSNBC, would be denied licenses to operate, but thankfully, no such mechanism exists to suppress the First Amendment.

Also, Trump wishes to suppress freedom of speech for National Football League players to protest the treatment of African Americans and other minorities by police.

And he seems to think that everyone MUST stand for the flag and the National Anthem, while the Supreme Court has declared that the flag need not be obeyed, and in fact, can be burned in protest, something much more extreme than bending the knee for the flag.

The case on this is Texas V Johnson (1989), with Justice Antonin Scalia, certainly the most conservative Justice in a century, writing the majority opinion.

What Trump is doing was denounced by principled conservative Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who has been against Trump from before the election. He said yesterday that Trump is violating his oath of office by refusing to defend the Constitution, which includes the Bill of Rights, and that Trump had, therefore, committed an impeachable act.

Trump sounds more like Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, or other totalitarian dictators than the leader of a democracy, and he is a clear and present danger to all Americans, as a result.

The possibility of moving toward impeachment is starting to grow, as Sasse joins Senator Bob Corker in warning against the threat that Trump clearly presents the nation.

Trump seems to be unraveling, as reported by journalists who have contacts within the staff of Donald Trump, reminding us of the last days of Richard Nixon.

But if anything, Richard Nixon was far less dangerous than Donald Trump is, as Trump has been collaborating with Russia, while Nixon understood the threat presented by Russia.

Also, Nixon was not out to destroy all domestic reform of the previous hundred years, as Trump is in the process of doing, with ObamaCare, the environment, consumer legislation, and government regulation of business.

And Trump is also out to destroy the Iran Deal, go to war with North Korea, and destroy all areas of our foreign policy with other nations.

So the need for prompt action, before Trump must be wrestled for control of the nuclear codes, is real!

The Urgency Of Gun Control Legislation To Stop “War Zone” Syndrome, And Save Multitude Of Lives, While Preserving Reasonable Gun Rights

The shock of the Las Vegas Massacre, following the Orlando Pulse Massacre, the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre, and so many others, demands the attention of Congress, as the urgency of gun control legislation presents itself.

We must stop the “War Zone” Syndrome that has led to more deaths by domestic terrorists than on September 11, if one counts all the death since 2001.

No one is saying that the Second Amendment should be destroyed, although it is clear that the Founding Fathers did not intend for all citizens to have firearms, as the amendment discusses a “well regulated militia”, and not the concept of everyone carrying firearms, even those who are mentally ill or have had criminal convictions.

But to demand a return of the Brady Bill, named after Ronald Reagan’s Press Secretary, James Brady, permanently disabled by the Assassination attempt against Reagan in 1981, but not renewed under George W. Bush in 2004, is not to ask too much.

To demand that background checks be done on gun purchasers; that loopholes that allow people to buy weapons online and at Walmarts and at gun shows without any search about their backgrounds be ended; that mentally disturbed people not be allowed to purchase weapons; and that the concept of allowing the expansion of gun silencers legislation, allowing gun owners to be able to fire at will without any sound being made for the potential victims to be aware of the sounds so they could duck or evade; or other reasonable measures, should be seen as sensible.

We have the highest gun violence rate of any Western civilized nation, comparing to Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and we must work to lower the death rate from suicide as well as violence against innocent civilians.

This should not be a partisan issue, as the Republicans, as well as the Democrats, need to see the issue of public safety as their major responsibility, and the National Rifle Association and its despicable leadership including Wayne La Pierre, who only are concerned with profits, must be defeated in their effect on our government policies.

All kinds of activities are licensed in our society, and guns need to be regulated in a responsible manner.

The Growing Threat Of Donald Trump Against The Life Of His Opponent, Hillary Clinton: NOT A Laughing Matter!

Donald Trump has done it again–a threat against the life of his Democratic Presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.

On August 8, Trump spoke of “Second Amendment” remedies, that those who oppose the limiting of gun rights in any fashion, and see Hillary as a threat to those rights, might have a solution to the threat, implying action against Clinton.

He was roundly condemned for this assertion, and Michael Hayden, the former head of the CIA and NSA, said if anyone outside the hall where the speech was given had said such a thing, he would be in a police wagon being questioned, and facing prosecution.

And Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, referring to the Newtown Massacre that killed 24 young children and six teachers in December 2012, said Trump was reckless and would have blood on his hands if such an event occurred.

But Trump went ahead and said on September 16 that Clinton should agree to have her Secret Service team lay down their arms and “see what happens”, so he has not learned from the earlier incident.

Trump should be told now that his freedom of speech does NOT include such reckless language that could endanger his opponent, and that if something untoward were to happen, that he could face prosecution for having presented “a clear and present danger”, under Supreme Court case Schenck V US (1919), which limits freedom of speech.

And this is all happening in the month when there were eight incidents involving President and assassination threats, and also the assassination of Huey Long in 1935, all covered in the chapters of my Assassinations book, which will be in paperback by March 2017.

Historians Organize Against Donald Trump: Is That A Proper Role? YES!

More than 600 historians and scholars, including myself, have joined a group of Historians Against Donald Trump to register our concern about the possible election of a man who is perceived by just about all people in the field, except a few, to be a danger to America and its future.

There are those observers who think historians should not get involved in political races, but this is a constitutional crisis in the making, as many see it, and it is essential that people versed in the history of leadership, both good and bad, worldwide, speak their minds and warn Americans of the threat that they face, were Trump, somehow, magically able to win.

This is not a usual election, but instead is a turning point in American history that will have a vast effect on the future of the nation.

And now when Donald Trump hints at “Second Amendment remedies” against Hillary Clinton, if she wins the election, to prevent Supreme Court appointments, it is even more necessary than ever to have historians speak out about the threat of violence.

And as the author of a book on Presidential and Presidential candidate assassinations, this blogger feels a need to speak out openly of the threat of Donald Trump.

Later today, my thoughts on Trump, implying an assassination of Hillary Clinton might be a “Second Amendment remedy”, are being published on HNN, History News Network website.

August 9–One Constitutional Crisis (Richard Nixon) Solved, But Three Months To Potential New Constitutional Crisis (Donald Trump)!

On this day, August 9, 1974, a major constitutional crisis was solved with the resignation of Richard Nixon, who had abused the law and the Constitution, and who finally decided to resign under pressure of an impending impeachment.

But there were concerns that he might declare martial law, and the Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, told the Pentagon to ignore any such order that might come from the President, who clearly was unraveling mentally in his last days in the Presidency.

But Nixon had enough sense to realize that his historical reputation would be even worse, so he still had a sense of reality, as he fell from power.

Now 42 years later, we have a true maniac, a madman, a demagogue, a Fascist, a bully, a misogynist, a racist, a nativist, a xenophobe, an ignorant person on foreign policy, a threat to world stability, and a very mentally unstable individual, in Donald Trump!

And just today, on the 42nd anniversary of the Nixon crisis coming to an end, the present crisis grows as Trump called for “Second Amendment’ supporters to do what must be done if Hillary Clinton was to win, a hint of assassination!

Trump’s language today at a rally in North Carolina only encourages the nuts and whackos among us, and he should be prosecuted for what he said.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has called for prosecution, and former CIA head Michael Hayden said that if any ordinary citizen said what Trump uttered today, he would be lo9cked up and prosecuted.

This is the time to stop Donald Trump, as he is emerging as a direct threat to civil order, with hints that he will not accept defeat, and will encourage violence among his lunatic and clueless followers, even after November.

This is, without a doubt, the worst moment in our political history since the Watergate scandal, and in many ways, more dangerous!

Jon Huntsman On Assault Weapons Ban: Not Acceptable To Democrats And Sane Independents!

Former Utah Governor and former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman has been applauded by this blogger over the past few years as the only reasonable, sane candidate that the Republican Party possesses, with possibly the exception of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

But the disappointment at his recent statement that he would veto an assault weapons ban of any kind is therefore disturbing and disillusioning, and makes it clear that while Huntsman is very talented and intelligent, still the best of the Republican Party, he is not acceptable to someone who believes in progressivism and the need for gun regulations to cut down the high level of violence in this country!

The reality is that Jon Huntsman has close to no chance to be the GOP nominee in any case, but it is clear that the Republican Party cannot offer anyone the road to a future where the average American can be safe and secure, as long as we have the lack of political courage to realize the absolute, dire need for some kind of assault weapons ban–not absolute necessarily, but within reasonable limits of some sort.

The goal is not to deny the Second Amendment, but also not to give license to mass murders of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School; or to mass murder in movie theaters, or in shopping malls, or colleges, or any public place–with no regulation of who is able to acquire firearms, particularly assault weapons that should only be used in war situations or by law enforcement authorities. As things stand, Democrats and sane Independents cannot support any GOP nominee for President!

The Georgia Gun Law: The Most Extreme In America!

Georgia now has the distinction of having the most extreme gun law in America, termed the “Guns Everywhere” law, allowing any person to carry a firearm in full view into any school, bar, church, restaurant, youth center, library, and sports arena, and cannot even be asked to produce a license by the police.

Already, a man brandished a gun at a youth baseball game, and despite twenty calls to the police, nothing could be done, and the man could brag that he had a gun, with no one being able to know if he was stable mentally, or might use the weapon on the gathered crowd. This kind of incident can scar children for life, the fear of someone shooting them, and with the reality that about 12,000 people are killed annually due to widespread availability of guns.

This is pure insanity, and means everyone is endangered every day in the Peach State, and there is certainty that the death rate from guns will rise dramatically. Anyone who gets angry in any public place can open up fire and kill many, because of his or her unstable emotional state.

How can a civilized society allow this, and say a person’s right to brandish a firearm outweighs people’s rights to security and safety from people who become, often, vicious, when they have a firearm, as it makes them feel more masculine and worthy by having in their hands a weapon that can do mass killings? Promoting the Second Amendment should not mean that all of society is under the gun literally, every day, and can never feel secure in their ability to lead a normal and long life span!