The War Within !

Its starting to look like the biggest threat to the United States of America comes from the very people who have the right to call themselves American citizens.   America has degenerated into a vast armed camp and there are actually more guns in circulation that citizens as revealed in the last census.

It seems that in most states the average citizen can walk into a gun shop or attend one of the numerous gun fairs and legally buy an assault rifle capable of automatic fire that was designed to be a military weapon.  Various multi round magazines are on offer and the public has access to weapons capable of waging war on a battlefield.

This is a cherished right written into the constitution when the American colonies fought a war to gain independence from Britain.  At that time, the weapons industry had not progressed beyond the capacity of muzzle loading firearms and the country was sparsely settled.  Putting food on the family table relied on hunting for many people and citizens were encountering armed opposition to their western expansion from the lands original inhabitants.

The movie industry made untold money from the gun toting days of the American wild west and the gangster era that arose from prohibition, but now the right to own a gun has become enmeshed in politics.  The National Rifle Association is a giant pro gun lobby encased within the Republican movement and many homes are simply arsenals stocked with many weapons and enough ammunition to run a war.

It raises an interesting question.  Why does the average person need an assault rifle ?  It certainly is not for hunting. The hunter aims to be a marksman who delivers a head shot, not to riddle whatever is in the point of aim like a colander.  There are vague notions about " defending the country against invaders "  but that is the task of the very efficient American military.

We are now seeing regular massacres of innocent people and they usually involve an assault rifle. Tragically, the victims are often school children, or in one recent case, crowds attending a music festival.  Often the perpetrator is someone suffering a mental illness - and that does not seem to prevent them obtaining a gun.

It is evident that nothing is about to change.  The NRA is a powerful body extolling the right to own a gun and the politicians on both sides of the political divide are terrified of its power to influence the vote.  The time is probably right for a new American political part to emerge with a gun control platform and the aim to abolish private ownership of assault rifles.   It would be interesting to see how many would desert the old Republican and Democrat ranks for a third party promising background checks to gun purchases and sensible legislation to allow gun ownership, but the total prohibition of assault rifles in private ownership.

That seems the only way this gun issue is going to be decided by the ordinary men and women who are horrified by these constant massacres and know that the necessary legislation to correct the imbalance will never be delivered by the present political system.

We have just seen a monumental change in the way Americans chose to deliver their vote.  Perhaps gun control is the issue that can continue that momentum and sweep away what has become a growing cancer on American society !