We are responsible for the world in which we find ourselves, if only because we are the only sentient force which can change it. - james baldwin

To endeavor to create and maintain a free society is no easy task. To do so, we must balance our own freedoms and rights with those of all others, and often that means compromise. The problem is that we tend to forget that there are many kinds of freedom, primarily, freedom to, and freedom from. As a society we believe that people should have the freedom to do most things, except when it infringes upon the rights of other people, and often this is much more complicated than we think. We forget that we also believe that people should have the freedom from things like tyranny, slavery, persecution, violence, and living in fear. In order to balance the rights and freedoms of everyone involved in a society, we must make compromises. Being a part of a mutually beneficial society doesn't always allow for total and absolute freedom, and as realistic adults we need to be able to accept that.

This brings me to the 2nd Amendment. Before I begin, I'd like to point out that I am, and will always be, a staunch defender of the right to bear arms. I grew up shooting, and hunting, and I own guns now. The right for individuals to defend themselves, and for citizens of a nation to protect themselves against the powers of a tyrannical government should not be taken lightly, nor should they ever be taken away. That being said, the essential right of citizens to protect themselves must also be balanced with the right of citizens to feel safe. In light of the onslaught of violence in recent years, is not unthinkable for us, as citizens, to demand that measures be taken to keep us safe from gun violence in public spaces, and to insure that our children feel safe, and are protected from gun violence in school.

If we truly fear for our own personal protection, then by all means, we should keep guns in a responsible, law-abiding manner. If we truly fear for our rights as citizens against an unjust government, then the answer is to be more sentient citizens, not to hunker down and refuse any rational discussion of change. The more involved we are in our government, the more we protect ourselves from the threat of tyranny. It is admirable that we rise to defend our right to arms so passionately, but it cannot be the only right we care to maintain. We talk of the entitlement of children, and yet we, as adults, fully expect the government to function, and fully expect to benefit from its functioning, without our input, our work, our participation, or our tax money. If we want the government to work for us, we must work for it, for ourselves. If we want to see that our rights are protected, we must be vigilant citizens watching over, and taking part in, our own governance. One cannot simply sit back and refuse to participate in a difficult discussion, and think themselves a champion of basic rights. To be a sentient, vigilant citizen requires more than that. To create solutions, there must be communication, and compromise.

Surely we are mature and intelligent enough to discuss ways in which we might make our society safer? Surely we can, at the very least, entertain a real discussion about restricting dangerous, irresponsible, unhealthy citizens from gaining access to weapons of mass murder? We need to be able to discuss it, if we have any hope of salvation.

While it is true that people kill people, the easiest way for them to accomplish it is with guns. If we can limit the wrong people from accessing the potential for mass violence, we can help protect the lives of innocent citizens. Limiting the wrong people from getting guns is not the same thing as attacking rightful, legal gun ownership. Identifying that easy access to guns for unstable and violent people is a problem that is causing a lot of violence, is not the same thing as blaming guns for causing the violence directly. If you are capable of legally owning and using a gun, it's not that difficult to prove, and it still wouldn't be very difficult to get a gun. Asking people to prove that they are healthy, capable, and responsible enough to own a gun, is not unreasonable given a gun's capacity for violence.  The simple fact remains: people kill people, and they do it primarily with guns. Is it crazy for us, as a society, to sit down and agree upon some rules and regulations that might limit individual crazy people from buying guns and mowing down large swaths of sane, innocent people?

So far, no one is proposing that we limit sane, responsible gun ownership in any way. No one is even claiming that responsible gun owners are to blame. What is being proposed, is limitations on gun ownership for the mentally unstable, for those with documented violence in their past, for those that break the law. What is being proposed, is that we make sure people aren't unfit to own a gun, through a series of certifications, regulations, and a background check. I had to consent to a background check to rent my house, I feel like it's not really asking that much to require the same when I buy a gun. Many of the restrictions proposed would be similar to those involved in car ownership. Certainly we have the right to own and drive a car, but first we must prove we are able to drive a car, and that we understand the laws and practices necessary to safe and legal driving. We need training, a license, car registration, liability insurance. We are required to wear a safety belt, and to refrain from drinking and texting. We are subject to policing, fines, and arrest if we violate these laws and regulations. Nobody goes around worrying that government is trying to take away our cars, or our rights, as responsible, licensed, healthy citizens, to drive. That would be absurd.

I feel like it's symbolic of the problems in our society, that our first response to gun violence in schools is to suggest arming teachers. We have bake sales, mill levies, parent/teacher contributions, and box tops collections in order to keep the sad, drowning excuse for public education in our society afloat. We refuse to funnel any legitimate amount of tax funding into education, and then we point to its brokenness as a reason not to fund it. We expect that schools and teachers can then prepare our children for the world, that they can educate and inspire them to greater heights than we have so far managed to accomplish? We expect that they have the resources to help those students in need, and to make sure that anyone feeling lost, abused, angry, broken, or violent might be helped before they hurt anyone else? It's irrational for us to expect these things from schools and teachers when we put so little into supporting them. We are reaping the consequences of our indifference toward our own education, and toward each other, every day. A well supported educational system would be a multi-faceted investment that would ripple across our society in a powerful way. It could also provide the types of social and mental health support systems that we desperately need for our children, and our citizens in the long term. We must also realize that as parents, it is our responsibility to shoulder a huge portion of our children's education at home, especially social, sexual, and moral education. It cannot be expected that schools will raise our children for us, especially if we don't fund them, or participate in their preservation and function.

Perhaps the problem is that we do not value education enough to invest in it. Perhaps the problem is that, as a society, we teach our children to strive for personal advancement and preservation, no matter the cost to others. Perhaps it is because we think that it is acceptable to abandon half the members our society to poverty, violence, old age, and despair; that we will be the stronger for it, the richer; that it won't affect all of us, if some of us fail and are left behind. But, I digress...

To be sure, there are many changes that need to be made to prevent mass gun violence in our society. We must pursue them all. Remembering that living in a society is a complicated thing, full of compromise and reward, we must attempt to come together to solve these problems. They cannot be ignored any longer.