Those Nasty Loopholes

The Sound-Byte

Ironically, the Juvenile Crime Bill, containing reasonable restrictions on the Bill of Rights that these marching moms want Congress to pass to protect children, defines the activities of these same older teens as adult crimes with adult penalties.

The Details

The (more or less) Million Moms who marched on Washington want sensible laws to control gun violence and to close the loopholes in the current laws. Perhaps it is time to look at some of the loopholes that hinder efficient law enforcement.

The largest loophole in the present law is the Second Amendment. This loophole is full of vague phrases, like the people and infringed. Now that the word is has been redefined by the Clinton/Gore Administration and accepted by the bipartisan Senate, perhaps it is time for Congress to set about defining exactly which people are being referred to in:

Preamble (We the people ...).
First Amendment (... right of the people peaceably to assemble)
Second Amendment (... right of the people to keep and bear arms )
Fourth Amendment (right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects)
Ninth Amendment (rights ... retained by the people.)
Tenth Amendment (... powers ... reserved to the people.)

Are all these people equal? Or are some more equal than others? If some people are less equal than others, who should have the power to decide?

Equally problematic are phrases like:

First Amendment (... no law ... prohibiting the free exercise [of religion])
First Amendment (... no law ... abridging the freedom of speech)
Second Amendment (... right ... shall not be infringed)

If Congress passes sensible legislation that infringes just a little on the Second Amendment right, then can't it equally well pass sensible legislation abridging or prohibiting the free exercise of the First Amendment? And after the precedent has been established that infringe, free exercise, and abridging are relative terms rather than absolutes, where do we draw the line? Who can we trust to decide what is sensible?

Our Founding Fathers had an answer to this question, in the Declaration of Independence: we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. The Bill of rights enumerates certain of those unalienable rights that were essential to protect the people against a government turned despotic. These rights are absolutes. They are not guidelines or suggestions. Any attempt to undermine any of these absolute rights undermines them all.

The history books tell the tale of another people who were beguiled into forfeiting their constitutional rights. It happened in the Weimar Republic in February 1933. For some reason, their parliament building caught fire, creating widespread concern over law and order. By the end of March, the Weimar legislature passed the Law for Terminating the Suffering of People and Nation, essentially granting Adolph Hitler dictatorial power. This was reasonable to eliminate the loopholes.

Back in America, the desire for law and order sent hundreds of thousands of mothers marching on Washington, demanding reasonable gun safety laws to stem the growing tide of death. There are only a few problems with this laudable sentiment. There is no growing tide of death. In fact, on a per-capita basis, gun accidents have been falling for years, and only media coverage has increased. Gun-related deaths among small children are significantly less common than deaths due to fire, water, or automobiles. The largest category of gun-related deaths among children are found among the older teens, as a result of violent gang-related activities in which they themselves are engaged.

Ironically, the Juvenile Crime Bill, containing reasonable restrictions on the Bill of Rights that these marching moms want Congress to pass to protect children, defines the activities of these same older teens as adult crimes with adult penalties.

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Last updated: August 20, 2000; Version: 1.1