Tuesday, March 13, 2018

The Sue-er

Add to the list of unconscionable things the National Rifle Association has done, this one: They are suing the state of Florida for enacting legislation that  would raise the minimum age for humans to buy machines that kill other humans from eighteen to twenty-one. The NRA does not want this change to take place. Not in Florida. Not anywhere. SB 7026 also prohibits gun ownership by people with mental health problems, and expands the three-day waiting period that had applied only to handguns to now include long gun purchases. According to the lawsuit, “This blanket ban violates the fundamental rights of thousands of responsible, law-abiding Florida citizens and is thus invalid under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. At eighteen years of age, law-abiding citizens in this country are considered adults for almost all purposes and certainly for the purposes of the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights.” If you're not up on your amendments after the glorious second, the fourteenth is the one all about equal protection under the law. 
Currently there is no amendment that guarantees equal protection from the second amendment. Currently there is no shame to be found in an institution that also chose to hold their convention just a few days after the events at Columbine High School. This included Moses talking about the tablets of the law and how they could come and claw his gun from his cold, dead hands. The concession NRA made in the wake of all the wakes of all the students who were shot and killed was to scale back the gun show that was scheduled to occur concurrently with their rifle and pony show. Thus, they could say with confidence that they did not actively sell any guns to someone who wanted to shoot up yet another school. 
Now, some decades later, the National Rifle Association is making their stand. Once again, in the face of a grieving public, they are going to tell the families and friends of the dead that what happened in Parkland, Florida had nothing to do with the guns. Or legislation. It has to do with the Constitution. We must protect this two hundred year old piece of paper with the blood of our children, if necessary. It was a member of the NRA, Florida's governor Rick Scott, a Republican who signed SB 7026 into law. That same law that includes provisions to train and arm teachers. To shoot back. 
And the beat goes on.  

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