The right to bear arms, for now...

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.

The 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution, as written.  One of the most cherished and protected rights of the people is the right to have guns.  I personally do not own a gun.  I really cannot envision a circumstance where I would own one.  I don't hunt.  I don't feel that I am in mortal peril all the time.  I don't think the government needs overthrowing anytime in the near future.  I don't think Canada is about to grow a set and invade anytime soon either.  All that said, I believe completely and unequivocally in a persons right to own a gun.  I have lots of friends who are hunters.  I have fired guns before and I wouldn't mind going to a shooting range and firing off a few rounds, just to test my skill.  Guns are part of America and should continue to be a protected right of the people.

Florida's governor announced a task force to discuss guns.  This is in response to the Trayvon Martin shooting.  I am not going to write about that shooting.  Its been driven into the ground by news media, bloggers, right and left wing nut jobs, and everyone else with a pulse.  Every time a shooting occurs, whether it be in the commission of a crime, an accidental shooting (see Dick Cheney shooting his hunting partner in the face), or a kid playing with their parents handgun and killing himself or someone else, groups of people come out of the woodwork in favor of abolishing guns.  To understand why this is a bad idea, one need only review the history books.

Early American settlers viewed the right to bear arms as an absolute necessity.  Reasons range from deterring tyrannical government, repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, facilitating a natural right of self-defense, participating in law enforcement, and enabling the people to organize a militia system.  All of the reasons they wanted guns are the same reasons we should as well.  Not much has changed.  If anyone thinks even for a second that our government would NEVER suppress the rights of the people to the extent that we would not need to deter them via insurrection then they should only take a look at governments around the world today.  As much as we would like to think we have grown to the point of civility that we wouldn't need guns is fooling themselves.  For the record, we in America are not near this point.  One could say that the reason we aren't is the right to bear arms.  It is much easier to suppress a people who have no means to retaliate.

There are lots of people who want firearms banned.  I can understand why they might feel this way.  No one likes to hear of someone being murdered.  No one likes to hear about accidents with guns involving children.  Seems like an easy fix, just ban guns, right?  Criminals seem to have no problem getting guns, banning them will change nothing.  Criminals get access to drugs easily and those are illegal.  Banning drugs didn't make them magically disappear.  Banning drugs didn't keep them away from children either.  Banning guns will only prevent those who legally and lawfully own and use them from having them.  This solves nothing.

It's not the right to bear arms that should be removed.  Regulating guns won't work.  Harsher penalties for gun related crimes is needed.  We have a problem in our country.  People want criminals in jail but they don't want to pay for them.  People complain about overcrowding in prisons, but then demand that something be done about criminals.  So what to do?  There are no easy answers.  I would suggest that lesser crimes not contain jail time.  We have tons of things that need doing in our nation.  Its time to leverage those who commit crimes as menial labor.  Smoke weed - Go to jail.  Steal a shirt - Go to jail.  Owe the IRS - Go to jail.  Owe back child support - Go to jail.  Punch a guy in the face - Go to jail.  Why?

California’s Annual Costs to Incarcerate an  Inmate in Prison

2008-09

Type of Expenditure
Per Inmate Costs

Security
$19,663
Inmate Health Care
$12,442
Medical care
$8,768
Psychiatric services
$1,928
Pharmaceuticals
$998
Dental care
$748
Operations
$7,214
Facility operations (maintenance, utilities, etc.)
$4,503
Classification services
$1,773
Maintenance of inmate records
$660
Reception, testing, assignment
$261
Transportation
$18
Administration
$3,493
Inmate Support
$2,562
Food
$1,475
Inmate activities
$439
Inmate employment and canteen
$407
Clothing
$171
Religious activities
$70
Rehabilitation Programs
$1,612
Academic education
$944
Vocational training
$354
Substance abuse programs
$313
Miscellaneous
$116
Total
$47,102

That's right, over $47k per year to house an inmate.  We, the taxpayer, spend over $1 billion dollars every year just on incarcerating people for marijuana alone.  Instead of spending that money we should be sentencing these people to hours of labor.  You free up prison space to more harshly deal with violent criminals (like those who use guns in the commission of a crime).  You free up tax dollars to be spent on boosting our economy, creating jobs, solidifying social security.  Is this perfect.  Nope.  I am sure someone reading this will poke holes in this plan.  I am fairly sure I haven't thought of everything.  But to bring this back around to the point and the topic, making guns illegal will not fix the problem.  Dealing with illegal gun users in much more harsh ways is a better start.  

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Please share.