Garth Rattray | America’s anachronistic second amendment

On the morning of September 4, Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, received an anonymous ominous phone call informing them that there would be shootings at five schools and that Apalachee would be the first. Mid-morning, 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at the school, entered and killed two teachers and 2 students. He also seriously injured eight students and one teacher. He was engaged by school resource officers, surrendered and was taken into custody. He will be charged as an adult. According to a CNN analysis, that was at least the 45th school shooting in the US since the beginning of this year.

The recent list of a few of the mass shootings in the US since January 1, 2024, includes – the Apalachee High School shooting, the Citgo gas station shooting, the Interstate 5 shooting, the West Indian American Day parade shooting, the Antioch neighbourhood shooting, the Forest Park Blue Line train shooting, the Euclid High School shooting, the Allentown shootout, the Lubbock shooting, and the Africatown neighbourhood shooting.

Research has found that mass shootings may be motivated by religious extremism, political ideologies (including white supremacism), homophobia, racism, misogyny, revenge against bullying and perceived unfair treatment, and mental illness. Although mental illness is often bandied about as a possible cause for mass shootings, less than five per cent of mass shootings is attributable to mental health disorders.

PERSIST ON HARPING

Despite that, the gun lobbyists and the apologists for mass shooters persist in harping on the need to focus on mental health disorders. However, Forensic Psychologist Stephen Ross believes that extreme anger is causing mass shootings. John Roman of the Urban Institute agrees and states that although creating easier access to mental health care, putting restrictions on high powered weapons, and putting in place defensive infrastructures to combat terrorism are beneficial, they fail to address the real problem of the multitude of very angry young men, everywhere.

The fact is that, very angry people, religious and political extremists, haters, and the mentally disturbed will kill with whatever they have at their disposal. In Japan, for instance, the weapon of choice for mass murderers is the knife. Obviously, a single knife-wielding person cannot wound or kill as many victims as someone with a gun. But mass shooters and mass killers (of all ages) in the USA have easy access to very powerful weapons (like assault rifles) that were specifically manufactured for war.

A minority of Americans do not support gun control of any kind. They cling to their sacrosanct second amendment, choosing to ignore the circumstance under which it was drafted and its original intent. The amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, the 10 “Bill of Rights”, (written by James Madison and ratified on December 15, 1791), were crafted during a tumultuous time in American history when individual rights were in need of protection. It was the era immediately following the Boston massacre, the Boston tea party and the war of independence (the American Revolution).

Interestingly, between 1630 and 1825, only single-shot, smooth-bore, gunsmith-made pistols and rifles existed. They had to be loaded through the muzzle. Compare that to the readily available and popular semi-automatic AR15 rifle (the type used in several massacres) ...its 30-round magazine can be emptied in about 5.5 seconds.

SECOND AMENDMENT

The Second Amendment states, “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”. There is no intent to repeal that amendment, even though modern-day America – with instant communication, efficient policing, SWAT teams, reservists, a strong and well-distributed military and several security agencies – makes a militia redundant. Obviously, as written, the Second Amendment is archaic.

Self-defence is one thing, but accumulating easily acquired assault rifles, military-type weapons, shotguns, numerous handguns, several high-capacity magazines and hundreds of rounds is ridiculously dangerous (especially in the hands of aggrieved, disgruntled, volatile and mentally unstable individuals). The Supreme Court of the United States Heller Decision (argued March 18, 2008 – decided June 26, 2008) defended the Second Amendment but stipulated “reasonable restrictions” to firearms. It saw no “right” to “keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose”.

During Barack Obama’s presidency there was a push for: universal screening, less accessible firearms and ammunition; a ban on 157 types of ‘assault weapons’; a ban on high-capacity magazines; research on gun violence and a beefing up of mental health. But some opponents claim that cars kill more people than guns (although nobody buys a car intending to kill people). Some claim that guns are needed as long as ghettos exist (a blatantly ignorant, racist and classist view of security issues).

Forty-five per cent of US homes have guns. Almost 12,000 people die from gun-related violence annually. Since the ban on assault weapons expired in 2004, 40 per cent of all the shootings in the history of the US have occurred.

Although a CNN/TIME (telephone) poll revealed that about 55 percent of adults agreed with stricter gun control laws, they have not materialised, due in part to the 152-year-old National Rifle Association. Their money and political influence have repeatedly thwarted efforts to reign in the free-for-all, poorly regulated gun ownership in America.

And so, the anachronistic and misguided rights of a few continue to endanger the wellbeing and lives of the many. Hopefully, one day good sense will prevail.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.