Tag: Constitution

America’s Gun Culture Will Not End

June 3rd, 2022 / Leave Feedback / nezuppal

**I took a break from this blog as I have been focusing on other projects. I was hoping to design this website and publish this article on the 1 year anniversary of my last post. (Not a deadline I managed to acheive, but I got there in the end!) I’m very open to suggestions and will try to post a lot more regularly from now on! Anyway, let’s get to it. And the subject I’ve chosen to begin with is no laughing matter.**

I oft find myself trying to work out how American’s think. Injustice in America is sort of accepted as par for the course. Wiping out entire tribes, generations and families of Native Americans – who cares? Slavery (need I say more) – who cares? African-Americans make up 12% of the American population, but 33% of the prison population – but they still do not care.

So, if we move beyond the “how” American’s think, let’s get into a bit of legal stuff. America has a “codified” constitution – it is a written down document. It was drafted by a group of genuises, particularly James Maddison and Thomas Jefferson. The quality of this document is the fact that it has managed to survive since its’ creation in 1787; it survived a civil war, two world wars, countless more wars and invasions from the USA (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan).

It’s easy to amend the constitution – or at least it used to be. For ANY part of the constitution to be changed, Congress must propose the amendment and it must be approved by 2/3rds vote in both houses. This was designed to avoid any partisanship (it has not worked). If this is all successful then the amendments must be passed by 2/3 of the legislatures each state – i.e. 34 out of 50 states. I suppose in the current political situation, with such a lack of bi-partisanship, amending the constitution seems almost impossible. The last time it was properly amended was in 1992, exactly 30  years ago, and the two parties have grown further apart.

Now, partisanship reigns King in America, not George. One just needs to look at Roe vs. Wade (an article which will be coming soon) to fully understand how desperate America is.

You get your gun-touting mid-West American who a lot of people in Britain envisage, with their machine guns and turrets and tanks. But a lot of Americans actually would rather prefer to carry a handheld gun, because if the police have guns, if gangs have guns how do you defend yourself?

These Americans with their assault rifles claim that it is their god-given (and by that I mean their Constitutional right) to have as many guns as they like. And the more powerful the better! What they forget is that their right to carry a gun is an Amendment to the initial American Constitution …

The Bill of Rights refers to the first 10 Amendments which were passed soon after the full US Constitution was created. The Bill of Rights is where we can find the famous (or infamous) 2nd Amendment, also known as “the right to bear arms”. I do sometimes wonder what if they had just elaborated and said, perhaps, “the right to bear arms in order to form a professional militia to prevent tyranny”. That’s what the amendment means, but the beauty and brilliance of the US constitution is that it is specific enough to create different branches of government, whilst remaining fairly vague which has allowed for its evolution and continuation.

“You can’t amend the Constitution!!” they cry. Yes, you can.

IF YOU COULDN’T AMEND THE CONSTITUTION WE’D STILL HAVE SLAVERY IN THE USA YOU MORONS.

Yes you can. The 18th Amendment prohibited the sale and purchase of alcohol, which directly led to the growth of the Mafia and illegal bootleggers. So this Amendment was then completely reversed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment. It can be done. It has been done.

In the UK after the tragedy of the Dunblane Massacre, where sixteen students were murdered by another terrorist with a gun. This was in 1996 and by 1997 John Major and Tony Blair had established two new Firearms Acts as well as creating a “buy-back scheme” for people who owned guns, but never used them and would now face a criminal record if they were found with them.

This rapid action was incredible. It has not eradicated violence in the UK, as many Americans like to remind us, and there is certainly a knife problem, particularly in London. But against the context of 21 young children being murdered for no reason, our violence issues pale into comparison.

Why am I writing about this? Because at 11.32am on Tuesday 31st May a terrorist (no, he isn’t Muslim or Asian, but I refuse to name him or refer to him as anything other than that – because that’s what he is.) took an AR-15-style Semi-Automatic Rifle into a fourth grade class and left 21 dead. The children were 9 and 10 years old.

But rather than leaving me sad, it makes me confused. These killings are not new to the USA. Of course, the age and innocence of these victims makes this particular shooting all the more heart-breaking. But literally the day before, US memorial Day weekend was marked by several mass shootings which left nine people dead and more than 60 injured.

In 2020, for the first time in the country’s history, ‘firearm-related deaths’ have becine the leading cause for childhood and teenage deaths. Re-read that and just think. In the USA, if you are a child or teenager you’ll most likely killed by a gun – because the top 1% of the top 1% can’t be bothered to sacrifice their bonuses to save childrens’ lives. They know exactly what the problem is, the world knows what the problem is, the President of the USA even knows what the problem is. But their hands are tied.

When Bill Clinton was President he managed to pass the “Assault-Weapons Ban 1994” which specifically included banning the sales of AR rifles. However, this ban only lasted 10 years and by 2004 they were once again being mass produced. Look at the size of those weapons. Why would they ever possibly, ever, in any situation, no matter the context, be needed anywhere other than the battlefield. An elementary school is not a battlefield.

What angers me even more and should terrify every parent in America was that this terrorist legally purchased two of these huge assault rifle on his 18th birthday. No checks, no questions just two massive rifles and 21 potentially brilliant lives taken away. And this is not uncommon in America. Yes, some states have much stricter regulation than others and the carrying of firearms across state borders is illegal. But this doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen? These weapons are far too easy to sell and transport but more importantly, in some states they are just too easy to purchase from your local store!

He bought these weapons completely legally.

You’d think Sandy Hook would have woken America up to its problems. But the NRA and other lobbyist obviously get in the way. Nothing about the reaction of the USA surprised me, because I know change is next to impossible. But when the leading cause of deaths is completely preventable, it does lead you to question whether America is beyond hope (another article I am working on, following the Capitol’s insurrection in 2021).

Change is possible, but incredibly unlikely. Realistically, you will never see an American bring a knife to a gun fight.

Trump’s Situation – It’s Actually a Win-Win for Him

July 20th,0 / Leave Feedback / nezuppal

One of the most bizarre and corrupt aspects of the US political system is often ignored or forgotten – and that is the Presidential Pardon. A Presidential Pardon allows the President of the United States to completely exonerate ANY USA citizen without any excuse or explanation.

The authority to take such action is granted to the president by Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The president’s pardon power is technically limited to federal offenses because the Constitution only grants the President the power to pardon offenses against the United States.

But a lot of confusion surrounds the Presidential Pardon. Can they pardon themselves? Can they use it to halt or alter impeachment proceedings? It really is up to the decision of the President at the time. It is used regularly – after Nixon was impeached and nearly convicted (resigning the day before the judgement – classy move) Ford used the Presidential Pardon to exonerate Nixon of any of his past crimes. His justification? The country had to move on. But it is more likely that this was a political decision to avoid added damage to the Republican Party.

The Presidential Pardon is most commonly used on a President’s last day in office. It’s their last chance to use the power and they won’t have to face a backlash because the people they exonerated will be free and the President does not have to answer for it.

On Bill Clinton’s last day as President, he used his power under the U.S. Constitution to grant pardons and clemency to 456 people, thus commuting the sentences of those already convicted of a crime and obviating a trial for those not yet convicted. On January 20, 2001, he pardoned 140 people in the final hours of his presidency. Why? We will never know the full answer. But most of the people Clinton pardoned in the last few days were tax dodgers, frauds, people involved in conspiracies to defraud the government and making false statements to Federal Agents. And people wonder why Trump was able to beat Hilary Clinton. The Clinton’s are synonymous with corruption and I would never trust either of them – political robots.

But this brings me on to Trump’s situation. He’s already escaped being convicted after being impeached so he does not need to worry about himself – unless new evidence comes to light which is certainly a possibility. But either way you look at Trump’s current situation it is a win-win for him.

I don’t really believe he ever wanted to be President. What started out as a publicity stunt soon became a vision of a political outsider which soon took control of the Republican Party and went on to become President. Does he want another four years as President? Who can say?

But this is where he emerges as the winner, an example of how unfair life is. He will win. Because if he loses this election he will be able to pardon anyone connected to his crimes, which we all know he has committed. Epstein, Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell … the list goes on. He could completely pardon them on his last day in office. Leaving himself to live the rest of his life knowing that he and his evil gang would be free forever. He’d remain the first person to become President of the USA without ever holding any sort of political office before. That’s a win.

If he gets re-elected (and if you’re smart you would not rule this out as a possibility) then he gets to stay in power as the most powerful man in the world. A man who assaults women, says prisoners of war are really to blame for their own capture, advised people to drink bleach to fight Coronavirus and struggles to count backwards from 100. He’d then be able to claim that he served as President for as long as he could and he would still retain the power to pardon any of his chums whenever he wishes. That’s definitely a win.

People seem to think that if he loses the November election it’ll be a huge victory for the common man. Do you think Donald Trump cares? When people on the internet make memes about his hair or orange tan, do you think he cares? Do you think he even notices? He’s spent his entire life as a millionaire. He has proved that he can do what he wants, say what he wants, spend time with whoever he wants and still rise to the highest office in the world.

If all that isn’t winning at life then I’m not sure what is.