tikevin83

On Gun Violence

Aug 28th, 2018
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  1. This is a response to the 8/26/2018 Madden tournament shooting in Jacksonville, Florida. My deepest sympathies go out to those more closely affected.
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  3. I generally agree with the sentiment that we should not sit idly and ignore the lack of political action on gun violence. However I probably have a unique position on what actions should actually be taken by politicians.
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  5. The essential core of US government is to protect rights that would exist in its absence, ie natural rights. Government is not needed to know that you are alive and can continue to be. But likewise without government there is no force to prevent manufacture and ownership of all sorts of weaponry, not just guns.
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  7. This is why the Bill of Rights was structured as a list of natural rights that the federal government "shall not infringe" and not as new rights that government shall create. It's also the foundation of the justification for creating the US in the Declaration of Independence.
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  9. Any solution that seeks to mesh with American ideals thus needs to maximize rights to life while also maximizing the natural abilities of gun owners to defend themselves. This perspective will become increasingly relevant as technologies like 3D printing destroy barriers to creating guns and general gun bans become not just unwise but impossible.
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  11. Current government should focus on what it can do prevent military grade weapons from circulating outside of legitimate military or militia activity and treating violence with small arms as a public health issue. This would maximize the value of government to both preservation of life and protection of self defense rights.
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