I caught a glimpse of an alternative future in an article in the Times a few days ago. There was this town in the mid-west, I think, that voted to allow and, in fact, encourage each householder to own and keep a gun on the premises. This is quite unlike cities like NYC where to carry a concealed weapon also carries a stiff prison sentence. There is a division here and competing philosophies about Amendment interpretation and how we should live. In extreme instances, lawlessness would dictate each and every one of to carry a weapon for self protection. One has a glimpse into the past when most able bodied men wore a sword and a knife as part of his dress.
I think that there is confusion over what the founding fathers wrote into our law for THEIR time and, although they did a great job of looking into the future, they also confused their descendants. Guns were used for protection, surely. They also were used to put food on the table. That protection against ourselves and the supply of wild animals to provide food for us have gone into the past but are still around to supply arguments for contending sides.
This town wants to equip each of its citizens (does that mean women, children and guard animals, too) with the means to protect themselves (within the town boundaries). Does this mean themselves against each other? Or does it mean that they expect and have evidence to prove this – that other towns will attack at some time or that we may expect enemies from other lands to invade and they require protection; that they have no confidence that the government will provide?
If this was to become a general law for all towns and all people in the U.S. of A, then I think it would be a good idea to make sure that all the weapons were up-to-date and working in good order. Then, I would suggest they adopt a rule to have a strict accounting of all missiles fired from these weapons so that enough supplies would be available when the next attack would occur. This sensible rule would make it possible for ownership of guns to be for esthetic reasons - not to make war on neighbors or those vicious enemies from across our borders.
A home is a castle and keeping guns against burglars is one thing, but to create a militia of all townsfolk against some future chaos is another. I think we should give this news some thought and come up with a viable alternative like an armed police force, a national guard and a military establishment. Guns are so easily available in South Florida that drive-by shootings by juveniles are a common occurrence. This is unjustified in what we call Modern Life in the 21st Century. If fear of attack is real why not have weapons on our persons as a visible warning that we will defend ourselves? This is not the America in which I grew up.