The right to keep and bear arms is a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. While I am under the impression that this right is a somewhat outdated one that had a more suitable time and purpose at the time the Constitution was originally drafted; it is, nonetheless a right that has to be honored until it is changed. The National Rifle Association, the poster boy for arms rights, can often be found proudly proclaiming its rights from the rooftops with guns blazing (literally), decrying anything that might infringe upon its liberty of possessing firearms.
The NRA owes its life, and the lives of many others, to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. While gun control supporters may view this as a gross misinterpretation of the Constitution, the NRA nonetheless manages to stick out as a group steeped in patriotism, pride and a fair knowledge of at least some parts of the Bill of Rights. However, there is a new NRA image quickly emerging on the scene as some of it's members aggressively lobby the Senate in an attempt to grant immunity for Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, the gun store in Tacoma, Wash. that supplied the Washington, D.C., snipers with their firearms.
In order to remain a safe, working society in a country in which the citizens have the outrageous right to actually possess their own firearms, our country must have and maintain strict laws that will prevent them from falling into the hands of the wrong people. We obviously don't have those laws, and now, the NRA, instead of acting responsibly and with remorse looks to erode the already weak laws we do have. While the actions of these snipers obviously make them greatly distinguishable from the likes of law-abiding gun owners, the fact that there is room for this to occur within the constructs of our society makes it worthy of a more intense evaluation.
At the time of the country's birth, it was a belief that people needed to own guns to protect their right to a free state. Being the most powerful country on earth assures us that we are free from that threat, and no longer need firearms. If the Constitution is closely and honestly examined, one can see that guns are without a place in a modern, civilized society such as ours.
Currently, the country operates in a much different way, and it is one in which the gun laws now work to enable lunatics like John Allen Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo to go on a murderous rampage. On Oct. 2, 2002, in Rockville, Md., before it spread to Washington, D.C., and on to Fredericksburg, Va. The snipers shot 13 people with the help of a stolen Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle.
If the Senate passes the bill proposed by the NRA, it is my belief that gun shop owners will have no incentive or reason to behave responsibly and within the letter of the law. According to statements made by Malvo, the two stole their firearms from Bull's Eye. But, according to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, that very store had a total of 238 guns stolen from its inventory. With a record as shameful as that, there is no way to preserve decorum in a society where firearms are openly available to the public, and it was only a matter of time before a criminal's weapons were traced back to the Bull's Eye.
Seattle police Commissioner Gil Kerlikowskie is fighting the NRA bill, saying he found that data from the ATF revealed that 60 percent of guns used in crimes in his area comes from 1 percent of arms dealers. It is these few corrupt dealers which, in a sense, ruin it for everybody, and they make strict gun laws all that more essential. Bull's Eye and other irresponsible gun stores like it must be brought to justice as they are responsible for the suffering and death of all of the lives that their "lost" firearms put an untimely end to.
Nicole Girard is a journalism graduate student. Reach her at nicole.girard@asu.edu.
