It's time we start regulating guns like we regulate abortions.
Because it just makes sense that we regulate these individual rights in the same way.
Because the Supreme Court, in the Heller case, concluded that there is an individual right to own firearms found in the Second Amendment - just like they ruled in Roe v. Wade that there is an individual right to have an abortion found in the Fourth Amendment.
Yet - the Supreme Court notwithstanding - Republicans have spent over 40 years regulating abortion providers and inserting themselves into the lives of women seeking a safe and legal abortion.
Thus, in the midst of this gun crisis we are experiencing in America, it's time to start regulating gun dealers and people trying to buy guns in a similar way - particularly since the Second Amendment is the only one that actually uses the word "regulated".
It anticipates regulation.
Twenty-seven states require that a woman get counseling before an abortion, often including exposure to graphic pictures or ultrasound images.
So why don't we require people trying to buy guns undergo counseling that graphically teaches how many children are killed in households where guns are kept and shows pictures of those dead children?
After all, statistics show that if you have a gun in your home, it is far more likely that your children will injure or kill themselves with it than that you will use it to stop a crime.
And that counseling session should also graphically inform the potential gun owner about the fact that the more guns there are in a community, the more likely people in that community are to commit suicide with them.
A number of states require that women be given ultrasounds, and that the doctor must display and describe the ultrasound image to the woman.
So wouldn't it be a good idea to require that any potential gun buyer undergo a background check in addition to a battery of psychological tests - maybe do a brain scan - and then be forced to learn in detail about the results?
