Liberty, Freedom and being "ok"

Liberty, Freedom and being "ok"

"For to be Free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the Freedom of others."
Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

I wish to start with possibly touchy topic to talk about a touchy topic. Though I don't want to trudge up my own memory nor your bad memories I may need to to prove my point.
"Is an airplane dangerous?"

The consensus is rightly, "Yes, absolutely!"

Tons metal held together by tiny rivets, flying at hundreds or thousands of miles an hour!

There are thousands of them flying right this second above you, with up to hundreds of people on-board each, all very much in need of a lot of protection.

Airplanes are dangerous and need to be held to a universal standard where pilots, mechanics, etc. need to be trained, certified and when appropriate licensed.

This necessary and very valid problem was addressed In 1938, roughly 30 years after the Write Brothers perfected flight.

The government saw the potential lethality towards the public that airplanes present and the need for regulations.

Immediately our protective body, the United States Government, stepped up and started what exists today where 4 billion passengers flew in 2017 with only 10 incidents bad enough to kill 79 people.

So the answer is actually "No, airplanes are not dangerous". Really not at all when their potential is taken into account and mitigated

There are 300+ million people in the United States and 300+ million guns. Unregulated, unregistered and that number is an estimate only because it is virtually impossible to present a valid number. This is not due to criminal activity or untoward activity, but due to there being no way in place to say "the USA has X guns" anywhere near a fact.

This year there have been 3,338 known gun deaths and it is not tax season. Winter storms, hell it's not even April.

3,338 people who deserved the same level of safety they find hurtling around the atmosphere.
In their homes, schools, parks, playgrounds, theaters, at work or play why is there nothing protecting us?

I live in Peru, a Second/Third-World country (no disrespect intended), comparatively behind the United States by years and far from the comfort of home. I did this solely to get away from the threat of violence and to give my children a better "SHOT"!

This is not out of a conspiracy, or perceived, clandestine threat from within or without, this is from my direct experience. From my neighbors.

I am an ex-paramedic, critical-care and flight for 15 years, was the lead medic for an international search and rescue team, I attended medical school (though it was not completed), I am ex-US army, a writer, I've worked with the American Red Cross and American Heart Association, I've lived in 9 states and many large cities and rural areas and I shot my first gun at an age young enough that such an experience, often remembered like your first kiss, wasn't profound an activity for me to remember.

Currently I do not own a gun because I honestly don't need one. In the States I have owned shotguns and handguns.

I have been exposed to the deaths of these 3,338 people and if I quoted the period during my EMS career instead of 2017 at least a few breathed their last breaths within my attempted help, each of my 15 years.

Babies, children, teens, women, men, LGBT members, pregnant, completely abled or totally disabled, police, criminals, most races, most religious beliefs all of them dying due the near-sighted governments ineffectiveness to prevent their deaths.

Whether every or no weapons are removed from the streets at least regulate them, license them, check backgrounds thoroughly, present the consumer with sensible products and investigate the purpose of the purchase. It took more paperwork to get the IPhone I am typing this on then the combined threat of every weapon or bullet I have ever owned.

People don't feel "ok". We all want, need and deserve to be at least "ok", but gun-violence makes this impossible. Plain and simple!

Liberty and Freedom are founding principles and the government by and for the people is tasked to ensure these are granted to all citizens and visitors alike.

There is no Liberty nor Freedom for the 3,338, nor their families and friends, nor anyone effected by the tragic loss of their Liberty and Freedom not for a purpose, a "just" cause, only because guns are fun, and only because there are so many that feel a need to protect themselves that THEY buy a gun adding to the cyclic problem.

"A well regulated militia to protect against ternary" is absolutely important and valid. If you want to play with a gun, simple do it in the well-regulated environment of a well- regulated militia.
Let's help the thousands yet to die in the rest of 2018 and the hundreds of millions who have yet to be touched by this problem, because they WILL!

Liberty and Freedom doesn't mean do any and everything you want.

People need to have regulations in order to have Liberty and Freedom. When slavery was finally legally made bad the Construction was changed to protect the newly accepted citizens.

When booze was seen as bad it was made illegal in a knee-jerk move and the Constitution was mended, when the mood changed and the Constitution was amended it didn't mean 100% of alcohol was legal and available, it was regulated.

These and thousands of other examples show the fluidity of the Constitution and laws.
The fact that this wasn't done under President Obama a democrat, liberal, leftist, socialist, communist, Kenyan, lizard man, illuminati stooge or whatever box your personal facts place him in for you, at his he peak he sadly did nothing to stop this. This shows clearly the need goes beyond labels. And the protection won't be fixed when the next democrat gets into office.

What I wish to do is to utilize the existing gun law as a template and start legally attacking the government where it hurts most, the wallet.

If you have been effected by gun violence and can prove that it was a result of the governments laws you absolutely, morally, legally and in the memory of the lost, sue the government.
If a plane crash is blamed directly on a short sided legal issue you can sue for the damages the legal issue caused.

Go after the manufactures, designers, and sellers of what has caused you so much pain.
If an engine falls off mid-flight you don't say to those depending on the life lost that there was nothing you can do, an "act of god", wouldn't fly.

I have been very much in the blood spilled but fortunately no one in my life has been directly been effected but if it had I wouldn't sit dumb and happy within a cloud of well meaning wishes and prayers, I would be contacting the ACLU.

I would not just be bringing it to Washington, I would take it into the Supreme Court.
Liberty, Freedom, the lives lost and yet to be lost, and simply being "ok" is enough to push much harder at the problem.

Good luck out there, 

Robert Peters