Answering Joe Biden’s question about ”why”

In his Wednesday-night address to the nation following the school massacre in Texas, an anguished President Joe Biden asked some questions, after saying most Americans favor “common sense” gun laws.

“I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this while I was on the aircraft.  And what struck me on that 17-hour flight — what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world. 

“Why?  They have mental health problems.  They have domestic disputes in other countries.  They have people who are lost.  But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America.  Why?”

Biden knows the answer. 

Those nations do not have a Second Amendment — which is one sentence:

“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.”

Yes, there has been debate about the meaning of “militia,” but the U.S. Supreme Court — even when majority liberal — affirmed an individual right to own firearms.

Back to Biden:

“Why are we willing to live with this carnage?  Why do we keep letting this happen?  Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies?”

It is not the gun lobby.

It is the U.S. Constitution.

If you want to change the carnage, the only certain way is to change the Constitution.

I am a gun owner. I am licensed to carry.

I bought my first pistol about 30 years ago, after I had received death threats — some apparently credible — from some people who didn’t like my published opinions.

I reported them to the police, who gave me some advice on defensive safety measures — such as changing my daily routine — and also some advice on arming myself.

Why carry a gun? Because police arrive after a crime has been committed, not before.

I might have bought a firearm anyway, because I enjoy the sport of target shooting. I have no interest in shooting animals.

Back to Biden:

“For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: It’s time to act.

“It’s time — for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget.

“We can do so much more.  We have to do more,” Biden said.

The “so much more” won’t account for much.

In a previous column I endorsed universal background checks, closing the gun-show loophole, and other “gun safety” measures.

But don’t ban so-called “assault rifles.” It’s been tried before and the number of deaths barely changed, and homicide by rifle accounts for about 5% of gun deaths. So-called “assault rifles” are  a too-easy target. Sorry for the pun. If you want to argue it’s better than nothing, OK.

These may help on the margins, but they will not stop the epidemics of sociopaths killing people.

Too many sociopaths acquired the weapons legally.

As long as anyone — other than felons and mental patients — can legally acquire a gun, we will have gun deaths.

The only true solution is to erase the Second Amendment.

Cancel it.

I offer this to those who are tormented, but limit their activity to Tweet and Facebooking.

If you want to end the bloodshed — end what’s sometimes callled 2A.

Here’s how it works: An amendment must pass a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the States request one, by a convention called for that purpose. 

The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the State legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each State for ratification.

Is it difficult? Yes!

It is supposed to be, to thwart the heat of momentary emotions. If it happened, it would raise the issue of gun confiscation, but that is a topic for another day.

But it is possible, and gets more so with every dead child’s body underneath a school desk.

It can’t happen unless someone starts something,