And now, here, once more, is The Donald! And the gun!
Comments. Considerations. Questions.
by Kenneth Bagnell
We may, this day, have entered the most tension- ridden week in American history. You know why: we are next door to a country where, in most states, pretty well anyone can carry a gun, hidden or unhidden, yesterday or today, in the wake of the killing in recent days, of three police officers by an unbalanced, young man from Kansas City. In the midst of this highly charged and very worrying atmosphere, will be its threatening centrepiece: an almost unbelievably incompetent and utterly reckless presidential candidate, Donald Trump –-heading almost certainly for the leadership of the Grand Old Party and then seeking the Presidency. Can you possibly imagine, if it were possible even in dreamland, how the late and greatest American President in history, Abraham Lincoln would feel about his rise. I can’t imagine it, even given this now distant era. But one thing I do sense: the current public atmosphere of the United States is like a massive gigantic pile of kindling threateningly ready for an incredibly destructive igniting.
The man with the match is of course Donald Trump, today’s man of the world as the convention is underway. He’s had enough headlines that no one needs to advise that he’s rather conservative to put it in the mildest form. Take, given the news that should be explored than exploited as I expect it will be: gun control. It’s amazing to me how many states have very open policies (an historic attitude, varying slightly state to state) since the so-called Second Amendment passed in 1791, to meet the founding of the United States of America, years earlier, in 1776. Very few issues are so hotly debated within the US as the true intent of the Constitution’s Second Amendment.
In brief summation, the Second Amendment, proposing in 1791, on the “Right to Bear Arms” has been debated, year to year to year, as to its true application. In brief it is interpreted by some states, usually the more liberal ones, as meaning that the state has the right to formal militia — reserve units and police forces – to “bear arms…” But those with opposite views (say Texas and other similar states) interpreted the Second Amendment to mean instead, the right of the individual to bear arms. Why? To “protect” themselves in case of danger. (It’s no surprise whatever that Trump is said to carry one inside his coat as do, I expect, do many American police in off duty civilian clothes; also senior politicians and their staff. As a result of this difference in interpretation, an internal and everlasting debate has gone on decade after decade after decade. Canada has never had such a compulsive attraction to being, as a friend once put it “armed to the teeth.” I like that much better than buying a pistol and have it beneath my gown when I read the scripture or deliver the sermon in a church. Actually, I kid you not, some American preachers do and there are stories to prove it like the preacher who once waved his pistol to let the congregation know who was in charge. I know it’s hard to believe but stay with me for a minute, maybe two.
I can’t resist giving you a window on just how distinct Americans and the gun are compared to Canada. Last year, along about early winter, I heard a small item on the radio, which I think was inserted in the newscast as what radio announcers used to call “the kicker” an item of amusement to end the newscast. I checked, and I was almost breathless when it turned out to be absolutely true, and even worse than the brief newscast story. But it’s also relevant to how commonplace and shocking, the place of the gun is in America. It’s about an evangelical preacher.
Last fall, apparently in Philadelphia, he was walking to his church to preside over the morning service. Along the way, another pedestrian, met him on the sidewalk, pulled out his gun and and pointed it at the minister’s head. Guess what? The preacher pulled out HIS gun and then what? He shot his adversary dead. As the preacher told a news service in calm and clear English: “He was pointing at me before I pointed at him, but I got a shot off, and down he went.” Don’t you like the minister’s ending— “down he went.” I don’t want to be pious but how does he square that with the example of the life of Jesus? On his way to worship, an American minister deliberately shot dead another man! I mention the incident for one reason: it is a window on how — at certain times and certain places – we’ll see the casual but extreme attitude some Americans practice regarding a deadly weapon. For example, the minister says he believes “the only way to be ready is to be ready all the time, even when in the pulpit.” He and some colleagues of their denomination (it’s called The Life Assembly) urge others to follow their ever growing practice of carrying a concealed gun. (Truly: please help me in my deepening confusion over whether to laugh or cry.)
That’s America and that’s how too many Americans feel over the gun. As for another minister interviewed for the article just mentioned, he simply said, that he’d “been shooting” since he was 11. Now an adult in the ministry, he had applied for his license to carry “a concealed weapon” to have with him in the pulpit. I mention all this not because it’s broadly typical of Americans but it’s a window on a shocking weaponry “attitude” casually but deeply woven into far too much of today’s American culture. I wonder how, if it ever is out on the Washington table, the Trump Republicans will deal with it.
Past blogs are archived on my website: your comments are welcome there: www.kennethbagnell.com.