One can say a lot about guns these days. In my youth they weren’t common, not many around beyond the old .30-30 rifle some used to bag a deer out of season now and then to put a little meat on the table back in the Depression years. Those who still hunt today, out of the tradition of age-old genes or whatever, are likely praised by many, as deer driven to plaguing city streets and yards by the sprawling “progress” of human civilization have become a major nuisance. I can buy that somewhat, much as I like animals.

But those types of guns are not America’s problem. In the city of Chicago alone, more than 4,000 people were shot last year; more than 700 were killed. This year, killings in that city had totaled 421 through Aug. 8. In  the  U. S., there are more than 33,000 gun deaths a year. That’s 93 Americans on an average day—men, women and children. One can cite this type of statistics all day long, but the public mind has become a bit jaded—when it’s all about someone else, someone far away. For now.

Amendment 2 of the Constitution states: ”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." Such language has created considerable debate regarding the Amendment's intended scope.

 As I pointed out the other day in a nearby forum, that qualifying phrase about a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state illustrates to me a total absence of logical thinking in applying that old 1791 Second Amendment to modern times. We have our local police, sheriff, state police, national guard, standing army, navy, marines, air force and coast guard. Where do diverse civilians packing concealed handguns qualify as comprising any sort of  "a well-regulated militia?”

Our main local problem at the moment, where guns are concerned, seems to be well down the scale—in the form of continuing disturbance by gunshots at Joe D’Amico’s security services business on the peaceful lives of nearby residents at Discovery Bay. But the thing is, that brings me back to the U. S. Constitution. A certain breed of gun-owners seem to want to have their cake and eat it too. 

There’s a lot in the U. S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights about gun ownership, freedom of speech and of the press, the right to assemble for a redress of grievances, etc. But what intrigues me more at the moment in the application to local circumstances is the Preamble to the document: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” 

My mind fastens here on that “insure domestic tranquility” and I wonder if interpretation of that phrase has been accorded anywhere near the broad scope of the Second Amendment’s bit on bearing arms, like when it comes to disturbing the peace of a residential neighborhood with gunfire. The Preamble describes the content and intent of the Constitution.

Just wondering.At local levels, the crime of disturbing the peace can be interpreted to “disturbing others by loud and unreasonable noise.” But it seems there might be a little wiggle room there over what constitutes “unreasonable.” 

It’s up to the lawyers, I guess; and I’d like to have on my side some expert on constitutional law—perhaps a law professor at the University of Washington.

Still in the mix, of course, are issues such as D’Amico’s seeming flouting of land-use restrictions.

But as many gun-owners claim to so love the Constitution, I’ll stand for the moment by the insurance of domestic tranquility promised in the document’s preamble. I also feel it’s important that we don’t give guns undeserved status in the public mind.

In any case, we have passed the tipping point where gun ownership is concerned. They’re here to stay. The best we can hope for is some sensible form of control in different aspects of it all. The major gun in my own life was the army’s M-1 carbine, and that never was a true love affair all those years ago. But there was an occasion when I was up much of the night polishing boots, brass and that weapon in preparation of standing honor guard for General Douglas MacArthur the following day.

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MEANWHILE, Donald Trump, for God’s sake shut up! I have family in Seoul, including a little great granddaughter who just began her life in January.

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