The Right to Bare Arms

The early part of 2021 witnessed the rollout of Covid 19 vaccines, and I was glad to be in that number of persons vaccinated by the middle of February. And the march goes on as we wait for all of us to get those shots. We were asked to bare our arms as a patriotic and medical duty to slow down this unseen pandemic that’s killing us.

Speaking of killings, one wonders where the NRA has been lately. We have had ten mass shootings per week so far this year; 194 in all. [A mass shooting is when four or more people are killed or wounded] Since the pandemic has risen to the top of heap as the reason for most deaths in this country, mass shootings have taken a hit and are having to bite their own bullets. By the middle of May, 15,439 Americans have been killed so far this year by gun violence.

Gun violence started with a bang this past January 6, in the attack on our own Capitol by our own gun-toting citizenry. Explain that to your seven-year-old or teach that to your high school civics class. As I watched this horror unfurl like some flag with the leader of the insurgency’s name emboldened on it, I recalled other terrible incidents in our nation’s recent history like the assignations of President Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visions of 9/11 came of the screen of my memory but there was a stark difference in that the enemy came from beyond us. Now the enemy is within the wall we were building to keep out other hoodlums. Where was the House Un-American Activity Committee when we needed them most?

The crowd was composed of white supremacists gangs dressed in military garb rather than white robes and hoods. The vigilante take over was full of flapping flags including several Rebel ones representing another lost cause when well-meaning southerners attempted to take over our nation in defense of slavery. Most of the flags this January had the Agitator-in-Chief’s name on them. I saw one flag declaring that “Jesus is my savior” and “Trump is my president.” I wondered who would save Jesus from his association with this bunch of hell raisers. When he was born in Bethlehem, another anarchist ruler, King Herod, went berserk and had all the baby boys slaughtered to assuage any fears of his own loss of power. He [like our former president] would not be a loser, especially to some kid born in a barn. The only flag that ever flew over Jesus was the makeshift one nailed to his cross: “King of the Jews”.

Baring our naked arms for a vaccine, wearing a mask, and keeping our distance, and washing our hands were and are things that are easy enough and patriotic in that we help prevent the spread of Covid 19 to the helpless among us. We shorten the time to return to normalcy with everything reopening. When it comes to bearing the truth, that’s a different story altogether. We have learned to live with alternate facts and legends composed of lies that fit our own fancies and fantasies: the election was stolen; owning more ammo than we need and bigger guns than our neighbors is our God-given right; those were just “tourist and visitors” who invaded the Capitol on January 6, according to the remake of that historical event we all witnessed. Or were we just being hoodwinked by fake news?