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It is no secret that President Obama is frustrated with America’s gun culture and the second amendment of the US Constitution. In 2008, then Senator and presidential candidate Obama said, referring to working-class voters in old industrial towns: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” Yesterday, in response to the mass shooting at an Oregon community college, frustrated and angry President Obama expressed his view that America’s gun culture “doesn’t make sense.” What President Obama, and liberals in general, ignore is that it is not their position to dictate their cultural views on the entire country. Far too common, the liberal left takes the “ends justifies the means” approach of forcing its views on the country despite opposition from majority of Americans or the right of sovereign states to decide their internal affairs—and they do so through whatever means at their disposal from unconstitutional immigration orders to other federal regulations.
Despite its self-proclaimed virtue of “tolerance” and “inclusiveness,” the left does not seem to have much regard for the right of people to self-determination. The left’s “tolerance” and acceptance only extends to those who agree with the left liberal view point. That, however, is not our system of governance. Our Constitution provides full autonomy to States except under narrow circumstances, and envisions that States decide their internal affairs based on their preferences, culture and situation. This is a necessity in a large country with hundreds of millions of people and vastly different cultures. And that is the genius of our system. It allows 50 States to be unified and join forces in the international stage, join economic powers, learn from each other, and also work as small laboratories of implementing solutions. All while allowing the States to be independent enough to address their internal matters in accordance with their own preferences, culture and situation.
Gun control is one of the instances where, in the spirit of our Constitution and Federal system, is best left to individual states to regulate based on the wishes of individual people. In fact, while the federal government has exhausted its abuse of the “inter-state commerce clause” in justifying all sorts of gun regulations, when it tried to regulate gun possession close to schools, even the Supreme Court expressed its disapproval of this federal government reach and declared the regulation unconstitutional:
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. This constitutionally mandated division of authority was adopted by the Framers to ensure protection of our fundamental liberties. Just as the separation and independence of the coordinate branches of the Federal Government serve to prevent the accumulation of excessive power in any one branch, a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front.
In this context, the liberal’s cry for more federal “gun control” is another instance of the liberal left attempting to force its ideology on the entire country—and even on states that do not share their views. While President Obama wastes no time in blaming the Congress for not passing more gun control, he fails to mention that individual societies, be it a State (such as Oregon) or a City, are allowed to provide whatever gun control measure they see fit (within the bounds of the Second Amendment). For example, Chicago has one of the toughest gun control laws in the country. More conservative states may prefer less gun control and accept its benefits and costs. In fact, States have vastly differing laws on gun control. For example, a Texas woman who had a conceal carry permit in Texas was recently charged in New York since she didn’t know New York does not recognize such permits.
The bottom line is, people of each State are free to provide their own gun regulations in conformance with their own beliefs—as they have already done. If President Obama or others are disappointed at “America’s gun culture,” so be it. We live in a State/Federal democracy. It is not their position to attempt and force their views on the entire country and on all states. If people of Oregon want tougher gun controls, they can certainly have their state or local government pass such laws. If liberal States want tougher gun regulations, they can certainly pass them democratically within their State, as States such as NY have in fact done. They don’t need to nationally force their view on everyone else. Would President Obama prefer that people of Alabama enforce their values (such as opposition to abortion) on the entire country?
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