From pbs.org, 5/27/2022, reporting on the NRA convention in Texas last week:

“Trump told the group that every school building should have a single point of entry, strong exterior fencing, metal detectors and hardened classroom doors and every school should have a police officer or armed guard on duty at all times. He also called yet again for trained teachers to be able to carry concealed weapons in the classroom.”

If trump and the republicans and the nra had their way, (and if Congress would allow for the funding required), here is how it would play out…

…This week, schools: single entry point, fences with barbed wire, armed security, and teachers with guns.

…Next week when the perpetrators move to the malls: single entry point, fences with barbed wire, armed security, and shopkeepers with guns.

…The next week when the perpetrators move to the churches: single entry point, fences with barbed wire, armed security, and a choir with guns.

…The following week when the perpetrators move to the grocery stores: single entry point, fences with barbed wire, armed security, and cashiers with guns.

…Then the next week when the perpetrators move to the food court at the strip mall: bullet-proof glass dome with a single entry point, fences with barbed wire, armed security, and teenage food-service workers with guns.

…And by this point we will also have lawless bands of proud republicans armed to the teeth roaming the land looking for an excuse.

…And by this point we will have tired of this endless cycle, so when the perpetrators move to the nursing homes: well maybe that’s okay; the elderly and infirm are a drain on our healthcare system anyway. Right?

Paraphrased opinions (inane and unreasonable) from nra convention attendees: Damn the homeless and the gays and the single mothers and the atheists and the God Damn liberals. It’s all their fault. Has nothing to do with the fact that there are 120 guns per 100 residents in the United States; far, far, far more than any other nation on Earth. What matters is what the gay teachers are teaching our kids in the godless schools.

And according to trump and the republicans and the nra, the only amendment to the constitution is the second.

I wrote the following the week ending 12/7/2019:

“If I claim that guns are good and the Founding Fathers intended this right through the Second Amendment which does clearly enumerate “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms” and I couple this with some anecdotal evidence to claim that we need more guns to protect us from all the criminals with guns, then my efforts are duplicitous because by picking and choosing my evidence I am working to strengthen my belief and convince myself that I am right and advocates of more stringent gun control laws are wrong; I do this selfishly, perhaps for the sake of my ego; or perhaps because I am afraid; or maybe I just like the feelings of power and the rush of testosterone I get when I fire 41 rounds in 4 seconds. I maintain this is selfish because if I were to make the effort to study and reason, I might come across some solid research that contradicts my handpicked anecdotal evidence. And I might come across the Supreme Court decision on the Pentagon Papers in 1971 in which the court acknowledged the tensions inherent in our Constitution; (in that specific example it was tensions between a free press and national security). In his 2010 commencement speech at Harvard, former Supreme Court Justice David Souter explains that “the Constitution has to be read as a whole, and when it is, other values crop up in potential conflict.” The conflict in my example is between “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” and the right of the people to Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness, Safety, Security, and General Welfare or Well-Being. It cannot be emphasized enough: when rights conflict, we the People must choose. [So I ask] At what number of dead children will the right to Life eclipse the right to Bear Arms?”

To equate the entire constitution with a single amendment is like saying a cheesecake is only cream cheese; never mind the sour cream or the sugar or the egg or flour or vanilla or the crust or the choice of springform pan vs glass pie pan or the topping or the time or the temperature; never mind if it cracks a little bit and is delicious or if it is beautifully uniform with golden brown contours but a little soggy in the very center; never mind if you partake alone or with friends or family or if you savor each small taste or if you wolf it down in three bites; never mind if in your quest for the perfect cheesecake you discover a delicious miscalculation or even just learn from your mistakes; according to trump and the republicans and the nra cheesecake is cream cheese and the constitution is the second amendment.

As a nation we don't have to be short-sighted. Our constitution encourages us not to be. As individuals shortsightedness is common and understandable. As a nation we should draw upon all available resources. Today our nation's leaders are shortsighted individuals unwilling to reason, unwilling to interpret statistics or consensus fact, unwilling to listen to experts with vision, unwilling to seek the uncertainty of Beauty, Truth, Wisdom, Justice. To lead is to go before and to show the way. Today our nation’s leaders are leaders in name only. Today our nation’s leaders are standing still; pointing fingers not to show the way, but to blame others for our inability to progress. Today our nation’s leaders are mired in bureaucracy, convention, certainty, division.

And I ask again, at what number of dead children will the right to Life eclipse the right to Bear Arms?