Keeping My Powder Dry

I accept the U.S. Constitution as a divinely inspired document. The debate over the Founder’s intent in granting the right to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment is well documented. Without too much intellectual wrangling, I can accept the language at face value. I believe anyone over 21 years of age who has no record of criminal behavior or mental illness should be allowed to own a gun.

I do not believe for a moment that strict gun control laws will keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Still, saying that is cause for some trepidation. There are many people whose lack of character, intelligence, maturity, or self-control make them high-risk gun owners, i.e., more likely to do something stupid with a gun. The societal price of the right to bear arms includes the tragic fact that some gun owners will use a gun stupidly, even criminally.

Yet, if I would myself own a gun, I am asking the rest of society to trust me. In the absence of contrary evidence, I expect and even demand that they do. I cannot ask more or less of anyone else.

I do not own a gun, but the day may come when I choose to own a gun. Until that day comes, I want my right to do so preserved. Thank you, Supremes.