An Open Letter to Vice President Biden

Dear Vice President Biden
I am writing to comment on the task before you concerning firearms in the United States.  I'm not really sure just WhY I am writing.  Maybe I'm concerned  that the debate I'm hearing isn't addressing the problem.   I do not expect anything I say here to influence the outcome of this problem.  But I have been listening , paying attention to the debate and I just wanted to share my views.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,  the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

I believe that we are facing a potential Constitutional crisis.  I know you  know what the Second Amendment says.  I only state it here to help clarify my remarks for other people who might read this.  But we need to change some things that are proving to not work.  Putting armed guards in schools seems sort of like stationing an ambulance at the bottom of a dangerous cliff rather than building a fence at the top. And I'm sure that at least one mall in the United States has a security guard who has never fired his weapon in simulated combat conditions.  But I fear that a political party now believes that it should legislate its ideology, demanding the people bow to the minority because they are right in every sense of the word. And our highest court rules by the law as seen through a conservative lens and not through the lady's blindfold.

I hear pundits all agreeing that hunters are responsible gun owners and users.  These pundits are all agreeing that whatever changes are made should not impact hunters.  I hear them agreeing that hunters might need to take three or five bullets into the field and that they usually only use one or two.  Hunters don't need 30 round magazines.  This may be true but it has nothing to do with either a well regulated Militia or the security of a free state.

The pundits consider self defense.  The Supreme Court has considered self defense as a reason for an individual to keep an arm (but not necessarily bear it).  The NRA runs a monthly column in its magazines titled "The Armed Citizen" where people successfully protect themselves or others.  Nice, often inspirational, but these individuals are not acting as part of a well regulated Militia and are not acting in defense of any free State.  The Second Amendment does not care if you have a pistol under your pillow, or use it to shoot a rapist.

The pundits talk about "everyone being able to agree" that military style assault weapons with high capacity magazines have no business on our streets, in our schools or in the hands of private citizens.  Unfortunately, military style assault weapons are EXACTLY what the Second Amendment protects. Not the weapons on the streets in the hands of untrained people.  A well regulated Militia would not be well regulated if it is not armed with the most efficient, modern weapons available to them.  It would also fail in definition if the individuals in said Militia are not highly trained.

SOME pundits talk about the necessity of PRIVATE militias and heavily armed private citizens as the only defense against the United States government becoming tyrannical.   That government would be in violation of the ENTIRE Constitution and its overthrow is already mandated by the oath sworn by every government official and every member of the existing and various well regulated Militias (eg. state operated National Guards and State Police) in this country. By the way? It is the GOP today that is trying to impose minority rule. It has been the GOP that instigated Watergate, The Iran-Contra disgrace, the Iraq war, laws that impose religious tests and dogma and "enhanced Interrogation." It is the GOP that has tried to nullify much of the Constitution.

The pundits are talking loud and long about the "need" for better mental health care in this country.  They include many from the conservative camp. The same people who want to repeal Affordable Health Care, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the very vehicles that will fund better mental health care.  As with most talking points, these serve only to stifle and discourage intelligent , meaningful discussion and action.  And need I point out that the Second Amendment has absolutely NOTHING to do with  mental health?

No, I fear your job is next to impossible because the only way I can see this problem being fixed is a process similar to the one this country used  to  fix the 18th Amendment.  We now need to revise or replace the second Amendment, and for the following reasons:
- this is not the year 1791 ( the year 10 of the 12 proposed amendments in the original Bill of Rights were ratified by Virginia). Guns have changed, society has changed.
- the prevalence of unregulated or poorly regulated firearms in our cities is responsible for a LESS secure State, in that a significant number of a cities citizens live in daily fear of an indiscriminate and poorly regulated chance of being shot.
- the current Second Amendment does not address the problem of keeping firearms out of the hands of people who abuse their current rights or violate current laws
- the current Second Amendment does not protect hunters, target & competition shooters, collectors or individual citizens who can demonstrate a need to carry a weapon, as nothing they do contributes to the security of a free State or meets the concept definition of a well regulated, Militia

So - what to do?     Fix the Second Amendment.  Fix it so it addresses well regulated Militias.  Fix it so it protects hunters and collectors and shooters and everyday citizens.  Require licensure including demonstration of competence for ownership. Fix it so gang bangers and criminals and the deranged are not protected by the highest law of the land.
- Protect the right of the INDIVIDUAL States united under this Constitution to each keep a well regulated Militia equipped with the most technologically advanced weapons possible.
- protect the individual's right to keep arms but with the following caveats
1. It becomes the responsibility of what ever civil authority (either state or federal) that issues licenses to trade in lethal Arms to co-ordinate integration of that seller's access to a national database
2. It remains the responsibility of the Arms seller to only sell to actual persons who  pass a background check and to keep full and complete records of every transaction.
3. It BECOMES the responsibility of the Arms seller to add to the same background database, a description of each weapon purchased by such individuals
4. It becomes the responsibility of the Arms BUYER to provide real traceability for every weapon he or she purchases. Any lethal arm purchased must be producible or a valid traceable document of transfer must be produced
5. A private citizen may transfer ownership of a lethal Arm to another private citizen, provided he keeps a producible record of that transfer, and the new owner remains traceable
6. Any lethal Arm that cannot be produced or dead end document of transfer, will result in a $10,000 fine levied on the last person with provable custody of said Arm.
7. The Selective Service laws of the United States will be amended to allow any natural person between the ages of 16 and 30, convicted of a lethal Arm possession violation, or convicted of attempting to gain such ownership or possession or uses a lethal arm in the threat or commission of a crime will be remanded to what ever branch of the United States military in need of people for an enlistment period of not less than six years. Such inductees shall be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and shall be given priority status for posting to hazardous duty or combat postings.
People above age 30 will be remanded to Americorp, or similar organization, yet remain subject to UCMJ.
8. No well regulated Militia has ever provided handguns as the principle offensive weapon to any potential combatant.  Hand guns were never intended to be considered as an Arm carried by a well regulated Militia. So even if nothing else is done, impose infringement on the right of unregulated people to possess unregulated hand guns.