Yes I understand that, but the mentality shown here suggests not many people even considerate it a problem or want to support it
There are 200,000,000 guns in America. If guns were made illegal, and 2/3 of these guns were turned in, that would still leave a staggering amount left, and those which remained would be left primarily in the hands of criminals.
In America people are not subjects, or simply members of society, they are citizens with rights, and a surprising amount of power and authority. If I as a citizen witness a crime, I have the power and authority to arrest And detain the criminal myself. If I see a police officer or soldier commit a crime, I have the same authority to arrest and detain them. Where else in the world do preople have such rights?
Guns are not a problem, cars are not a problem, drugs are not a problem, people are problems. A gun is an inert instrument incapable of operating itself, just as a car is. It takes a hand under the instruction of a mind to operate these devices. In America we trust people to make the right decisions, freedom comes with a great amount of personal responsibility. If you want an absolutely safe society, you can imprison everyone in rubber rooms, regulate their diet, force them to exercise regularly, and force them to eat with their fingers. But even with all these measures, people will still find a way to harm each other. There would be far less violence, and people might live longer lives, but personally, I would prefer living in the current system.
I now live in Japan, where the guns have been illegal for generations, and where crimes are strictly punished, yet there are stories of murders in the papers every day. Despite a ban on weapons, guns are routinely used in crimes, even the mayor of Nagasaki was killed with a gun not so long ago. The lack of guns simply means people use knives, rope, poison, or blunt objects to kill.
One must remember that in America, the second amendment is written with the same ink and on the same paper as the other amendments, and if it can be struck down or removed, so can the other amendments. As for "a well regulated militia" this is the most misunderstood part of the amendment. Who exactly does the regulating of the militia or military? It is not the president, courts, or congress, but the people themselves. The militia or military is regulated by a powerful citizenry, who's power rests partly in arms. The supreme court understood this, and affirmed that the second amendment is an individual right.
One can argue the America system is broken, but it is not, it is working as it should. Those who would argue otherwise should travel to other parts of the world and see how most of the world lives. America is not a new country, but it now has the oldest unchanged government in the world. There is no such thing as a perfect society, and I have lived in enough countries to know that. You have to take the bad with the good, however painful it may sometimes be. By reducing the bad, you have the unintended consequence of reducing the good as well.
I'll take America as it is, the good, bad, and the ugly, over anywhere else.
