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Yes, the Second Amendment is outdated. Or, waitIm sorryare there still militias marching about? This is the right to bear arms qualifier, correct? Here's some of the historical context:

This amendment-turned-platitude was drafted into the Constitution purely so that slave owners could form militias and repel uprisings, so that southern white men could protect and maintain their lofty stands from the federal government, from slaves, from Native Americans, from foreign incursion; so that the settlers and newly-branded Americans could arm themselves in preparation for the wars and skirmishes with England and France and Spain and Mexico and Canada that all might occur on domestic soil (many of which did end up occurring); so that the country as a whole could arm itself against the kind of tyranny itd so freshly escaped; so that frontiersmen could hunt for food, kill grizzly bears and wolves and wildcats and fight with native tribes and foreigners, not so that peppy yeomen could defend themselves and their buddies from machine-gun madmen and terrorists.

This was no conception of the founding fathers, no consideration made by our untouchably sacred Constitution, which systemically provided for the non-relevancy of women, and for the legalization of slavery and the oppression of anybody not white, not landed, not malewhich has been amended 17 times, but apparently never again.

What exactly is the pro-gun rights supporters ideal world?

A world in which every Ma and Pa holstered themselves and their of age children each morning before running along to work or school? So that in the event of a mass shooting, the banker or checker or student or clerk everyman could draw and fire against the perpetrator(s)? Surely, there would be no trouble in this?

If, on the occasion of a wild man pulling a gun and firing into a crowd, three-dozen others did the same and fired at these perpetratorsthere wouldnt be a mess of a crossfire; a mess of figuring out who the bad guy iswho it is, exactly, all the good guys are supposed to be shooting at when everybody else has got a gun; no mess of dead innocents and mayhem as every man and women with a firearm looks to their neighbors empty holster and swings round?

Perhaps we should bring the gun manufacturers into the national bureaucracys fold? More so than they already are, that is. I see no real reason why the NRA shouldnt just be another governmental agency. Perhaps they could issue pistols to every American upon their 18th birthdaysurely, this would prevent violence on our city streets and in our city bars and our city schools. Lets just give each and every soul a killing machine; This, thissurelywould finally put an end to all the killing.

Yes, if only every college student, every barkeep, every passerby in this past Sunday mornings crowd on Welch Avenue that was shot into would have had a pistol strapped to their thigh, then the situation would have been all the more improved. If, after, the perpetrators had taken their shots and sped away, a good 15 or so men and women would have pulled out a gun and looked to each other in confusionthen look where we might be. Look what mightve been accomplished.

NoI must slow down. I speak crazily. I speak of exaggerations, of unfairly reached logical ends and enough! say the pro-gun rights folk. Not everybody needs a gun. Only those whove been properly vetted, whove taken the proper tests; those among us who could be reasonable and responsible under pressurethose who really know what theyre doing.

But wait? does this not eerily sound like something weve already got? Something, perhaps, like the police force?

This is why we ought to strike the Second Amendment in its current state. Replace it with something more apropos. Our world is a changed one from 1787, and it deserves some changed legislation.

I do not call for the prohibition of guns (which is impossible) or even for particularly strict gun control law (just stricter than what weve already got). But what I do really call forwhats desperately neededis some actually meaningful, relevant, worthwhile, updated Constitutional language that clamps down on what is such a pathetically weak truism and argument: the right to bear arms.

The above paragraphearlier in the week having been my concluding thoughtsmust now survive a few more addendums.

A bill has been proposed in the Iowa legislature which would provide for the legal carrying of firearms on campus grounds.

I need not restate so much of what Ive already mentioned, but would merely remark that whatever supposed belief in efficacy there could exist (on the part of the bills supporters) for the handing over of such a dangerous right to a pack of green 1822 year-olds is beyond delusional. This is an absolutely wild proposed solution to a very serious problem, and it deserves a more serious resolution.

More guns simply arent the answer. Theyve never been the answer. There are more complex issues at the root of these violent symptoms, and to treat the symptoms alone with such a surface-level reaction would be a grave mistake. It may take some horrible tragedy for the nation to unite on this front, and for that I am truly sorry.

See the original post:
Felker: Guns on campus? How about we strike the Second Amendment? - Iowa State Daily

These past few weeks have been busy for those of us working in the media.

We have inaugurated a brand-new president, there have been executive orders and Twitter rants, nominations, protests, shadowy figures on the National Security Council, nominations, intrigue. We have brought back into vogue the time-honored American pastime of punching Nazis in the face, which turns out to be bad for Nazis but good for morale.

Simply put, there has been a lot to talk about recently.

One story that received attention for precisely 15 minutes before being buried under more tweets from the president was a piece of legislation, approved by Congress, that would ease gun restrictions for people suffering from mental illness.

The restriction was introduced under the Obama administration and requires more stringent background checks for customers who have been diagnosed with mental health issues. Nationwide, the rule affects roughly 75,000 people.

Understandably, gun control advocates and progressive groups have been upset about this, and it immediately raises questions about gun safety and responsibility. Gun control has long been a polarizing political issue, centering mainly on balancing the Second Amendment with public safety.

One issue lost in the debate is simply this: Guns are so much more than a convenient way to shoot each other (though that, too, should not be dismissed).

There is also the cultural aspect of gun ownership, something that goes back to the founding of our country. It has been a time-honored tradition throughout the United States to come together as a people, take aim with our fellow citizens, and go pew pew pew at all of our social and economic problems in order to make them go away.

This principle has served us well over the course of our history. It has been the guiding principle of our foreign policy, in fact, since at least World War II. In that time we have outlasted the Soviet Union, built the Interstate Highway system, and put a man on the moon.

An appropriate analogy can be found by our very own Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, in her statement during her confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate, when she explained that guns were needed in public schools to protect students from grizzly bears:

I think probably there, I would imagine that theres probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies, DeVos said.

The comment sparked widespread ridicule in the media, but I think we should hear her out. Without guns in public schools, after all, how would we shoot down grizzly bears intent on breaking in through the windows and unlocked doors of the building?

If we ban all of the guns, wont that just embolden the grizzlies to terrorize the nation further? Grizzly bears, after all, are not law-abiding citizens. Law abiding citizens are law-abiding by default, because we say they are, which is why they get guns in the first place. The logic is clear: We cannot and will not be at the mercy of a lawless bear population breaking into the honey pots of law-abiding citizens across the nation.

DeVos, to her credit, sympathized with the victims of violent shootings when pressed to explain her views: Senator, if the question is around gun violence and the results of that, please know that I, Imy heart bleeds and is broken for those families that have lost any individual due to gun violence.

DeVos did not specify whether the bleeding was due to a bullet wound or some other form of injury unrelated to gun violence.

As we go forward, it would serve us well to consider each side of the debate.

On one hand, there is public safety to worry about, and the right of an individual not to be shot in the face. On the other hand, there is the Second Amendment guaranteeing citizens the right to bear arms, as well as our own traditions and heritage.

One can look at it the discharge of firearms as just one more time-honored American tradition. And these traditions, after all, are what make America great: shooting off fireworks into the neighbors yard every 4th of July; covering our vegetables in liquid cheese; hanging tiny American flags from the windows of our SUVs as we drive around the highways and back roads of our nation, the exhaust fumes rippling up into the clouds like a burnt offering to capitalism and the wonders of the internal combustion engine.

These are the relics of our cultural heritage that we will pass down to future generations, and gun violence seems to be a part of it, for better or worse. Our own Vice President Dick Cheney, in fact, shot a man in the face while on a hunting expedition in 2006, an incident he called an accident. And the country survived.

Life went on as it had before: Cars crossed and re-crossed our slowly-crumbling infrastructure, the sun rose and set over the office towers and strip malls of our nation, and somewhere out there in rural Wyoming, a lawless grizzly bear was put down in a heroic act of self-defense, children and teachers alike cheered in unison, and the educational process continued throughout the United States of America like it had for generations.

The rest is here:
The Second Amendment vs potential grizzlies - Psuvanguard.com

The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday began rolling out President Trump's plans for a wider crackdown on people coming into the United States illegally.

The moves, outlined in a pair of memos signed by DHS Secretary John Kelly, include an end to the policy of releasing people caught at the borders pending deportation hearings, hiring thousands more federal agents, sending more judges and officers to deal with asylum claims, enlisting more help from local police and speeding up removal proceedings for a larger number of people who are in the country illegally.

The memos also recommend authorities seek prosecution of parents who pay smugglers to bring their children into the United States decisions that will ultimately be made by federal prosecutors.

Kelly's memos are nearly identical to executive orders signed by Trump last month as part of his campaign promise to take a harder line on illegal immigration. The memos add detail on how the new priorities will be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Related: Experts: Trump's Immigration Orders Could Drive Crime Up

These moves are separate from Trump's ban on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries, which is has been blocked by federal courts and could result in a newly written executive order this week.

The memos largely override previous orders from former President Obama.

But, significantly, the memos leave two orders in place: one concerning young people who came to the United States as children but were allowed to stay, known as "dreamers," and another that allows parents to to stay in the country if they came here illegally to join their U.S. citizen children. The second, however, has been blocked in federal court.

More:
DHS Outlines Crackdown on Illegal Immigration - NBCNews.com

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In total, 680 illegal aliens were detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in the last week, a fraction compared to the some 950,062 with deportation orders yet to be detained, according to figures from the Washington Examiner.

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ICE Director Thomas Homan told the Examiner that As of May 21, 2016, there were 950,062 aliens with final orders of removal on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) national docket. Of those aliens, 939,056 were on ICEs non-detained docket and 11,006 were on ICEs detained docket.

As Breitbart Texas reported, some of those 680 illegal immigrants arrested and detained are MS-13 gang members, child sex offenders, rapists and drug traffickers.

To achieve this overwhelming task, DHS is authorizing the hiring of 10,000 new immigration officers, as Breitbart Texas reported.

DHS Secretary John Kelly ordered Homan to immediately begin hiring new ICE agents, operational and mission staff, and legal experts.

John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at@JxhnBinder.

Visit link:
Nearly 1M Illegal Aliens Ordered Deported Still Free - Breitbart News

An elementary school teacher inWashington state has been placed on administrative leave after sharing information about how to contactU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report illegal aliens.

The unnamed educator, who taught atKeene-Riverview Elementary School in Prosser, Washington, shared the information in a Facebook post that could beseen as hostile and offensive,according to The Yakima Herald-Repubic. The post led to angry and concerning phone calls and visits from concerned citizens and parents, the school district said.

The teachers post was in response to the nationwide Day Without Immigrants protest on Thursday.

[ICE]will need to know names, locations (either work place or residence) and any other specific information you can provide, the teacher wrote, adding, If this offended you in anyway, do me a favor and unfriend my American ass!!!

After complaints surfaced, the school district decided to put the teacher on leave.

Due to possible safety and security concerns, as well as concern for disruption of the school environment, this teacher has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation of this incident by the district, the Prosser School District said in a press release on the matter.

The school districts board of directors worked to distance themselves from the teachers words.

Please be assured that the views expressed by this teacher on her personal Facebook page do not in any way reflect the views, beliefs or values of the Prosser School District or its administration or Board of Directors,a statement read.

The Facebook post was first published on Wednesday, one day before the protests began. The demonstrations were in response to President Donald Trumps hardline position on illegal immigration.

Since becoming president, Trump has signed an executive order moving forward with the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, signed an order to significantly expand the governments priorities regarding deportation of illegal immigrants and ordered the freeze of travel into the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries. The last of those three actionshas beenhalted by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

During the Thursday protests, severalProsser-area workersclosed their businesses in support of the anti-Trump demonstrations, the Herald-Republic reported.

Read more from the original source:
Washington teacher placed on leave after encouraging people to 'report illegal aliens' - TheBlaze.com