Senseless killings by deranged people with semi-automatic weapons raise legitimate questions about gun rights and gun ownership. But if vehicles can be regulated in the interests of public safety, why not weapons?
Considering the arguments of some who react in horror to any such suggestion, here’s my tongue in cheek proposal for another amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as follows:
“A well regulated transportation system being necessary to the wellbeing of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear motor vehicles shall not be infringed.”
Had the founding fathers been able to foresee America’s love of motorized vehicles, they would have made a constitutional provision for their free and unfettered use. But with all due respect, they could see no further than the ends of their muskets on this one, so it’s up to us to create the following inalienable rights for ourselves:
1. No more state imposed vehicle taxes, registrations, or license fees. Since the power to license and to exact fees represents the power to control, you can see the kind of slippery slope we could be on here.
2. No laws to regulate traffic speeds, impose annual inspections, or limit the width or weight of vehicles or freight carried on the highway-- as long as no crimes are committed. After all, it isn’t cars, but people, that endanger people.
3. No driver’s license or examination requirements. Decisions regarding who may operate a vehicle (or at what age) would be left to the discretion of individuals and heads of households.
4. No state mandated liability for damages involving one’s vehicle. Requiring such insurance is just another form of government interference and control.
The urgency of the above is apparent when you consider the indisputable fact that without it law abiding citizens will soon lose their right to keep and bear vehicles, and as the Good Book says, “when cars are outlawed, only outlaws will have cars.” Who would want to live in an America where its upright citizens, the police, and even its “well regulated militia” would lose all their cars, trucks, motorcycles and armored vehicles?
Just kidding.
2 comments:
Funny!
How about a campaign to end all this nonsense by repealing the 2nd amendment? The constitution is a document that provides mainly for peaceful conduct of the nation's affairs. Any changes in government should take place at the ballot boxes of the nation--as provided for in the constitution. If the constitution is to be changed, then the constitution itself provides for peaceful and nonviolent ways of doing that. But the 2nd amendment is interpreted by many on the Right as a loophole for violence. They claim that if the government becomes tyrannical, this amendment gives them a right to a bloody overthrow. That's why they refuse restrictions on the owning of armaments. Let's close that loophole! Do you know any organizations actively working to do that? By the way, this doesn't mean that guns will be illegal. What it means is that the NRA and their allies will not be able to use the constitution to block sensible gun-control legislation.
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