After outlining the stance of the National Rifle Association that armed guards should be stationed in every American school, the alternative of banning ammunition for assault weapons is presented for serious consideration. There is no Second Amendment right to posses and use such ammunition, nor should there be.

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After waiting a week "out of respect for the victims of the Newtown school shootings, and their families," America's premier gun promoter, the mislabeled National Rifle Association (today, National Assault Weapons Advocate would be considerably more accurate) has come up with its solution to the seemingly-endless horrific school shooting tragedies.

According to the NRA President and Executive Vice President, we need to station armed guards in each and every American school.  Aside from costing tens of billions of dollars, the fact is that armed guards have not prevented past school shootings, and indeed they increase the likelihood of innocent victims being caught in the crossfire.  But then, such niceties have never bothered the NRA, not when a return to the Wild, Wild West within our schools is possible.

Since those NRA leaders are fond of quoting the trite and tired saying that "it's not guns that kill people, it's people who kill people" -- actually and more accurately, people with guns kill people, but then the NRA is not one for fine distinctions -- here is my proposal for reducing substantially school and workplace shootings: Ban Those Bullets!   This proposal would include banning all high capacity bullet-delivery systems for automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons, except for valid and justified law enforcement and military purposes.  Severe penalties for possessing, let along using, such bullets and related equipment, would reinforce the prohibition on them.  There is no valid civilian purpose for such bullets and bullet-delivery systems, which are primarily used for threatening, robbing, wounding, and killing people. 

The NRA is very fond of citing that part of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution which allows "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."  The opening portion of that Amendment, "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State," is not nearly as popular with the NRA and other gun advocates, as it makes clear that there must be a valid purpose for our right "to keep and bear arms."  America's Founders never intended guns ownership and use to be a free-for-all, nor could they have envisioned the development of assault weapons, IEDs, and the like.  The horrendous shootings in Newtown, and Aurora, and Tucson, and so many other locations, had nothing to do with a "well-regulated militia" -- they have been the result of disturbed people's easy access to weapons of mass killing.

Banning those bullets, and bullet delivery-systems, used in assault weapons, can make a major contribution to the safety and security of Americans.  At the same time, those owners of such weapons who get satisfaction from parading around with their weapons would still be able to do so -- they just would not be able to use them against innocent parties, or anyone with whom they have a real or imagined grievance.  This past year, five hundred murders were committed just in Chicago, an all-time record achieved mainly by easy access to guns.  This past month, a disturbed man with a felony record got a a neighbor to buy assault weapons for him, so that he could gun down and kill first responders to a fire he had set.

The best resolution we can make for 2013 is to reduce American gun violence to the much-lower level prevalent in other civilized nations, where access to weapons is much better-controlled, and assault weapons are banned.  And that is a resolution which the National Rifle Association needs to adopt, the sooner the better.  Until then, let's Ban Those Bullets!   It is the least that we can and should do.

Authors Bio:

Author's Biography

Eugene Elander has been a progressive social and political activist for decades. As an author, he won the Young Poets Award at 16 from the Dayton Poets Guild for his poem, The Vision. He was chosen Poet Laureate of Pownal, Vermont for his poem Pownal People. His three new verses for America the Beautiful:September 11, 2001 were widely acclaimed and read into the Congressional Record by U.S. Senator Chris Dodd.
Dr. Elander has authored four volumes of poetry: The Right Click, The World Click, Journeyings, and Philosophy over Fika, all written from 2004 to now, in the U.S. and Sweden -- as well as two published novels: The Goat of God, and Turning the Tides, both available via Signalman Publishing on Amazon.com in Kindle and electronic pdf editions. A self-help book titled Empowerment:Taking Charge of your Life was recently completed and is available via Amazon.com KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing.
Dr. Elander is a freelance columnist who published a newspaper for ten years in New London, CT. He is an economist and college lecturer, and has been an agency executive director, emergency management consultant, investigator; and former animal control officer, deputy code enforcement and health officer for Farmington, New Hampshire. He and his wife Birgit, who co-authored The World Click, divide their time between Georgia and her homeland, Gotland, Sweden.
Several other books are underway, including a sequel to The Goat of God, and a public version of his doctoral dissertation on Cooperatism, a new economic system he developed which includes all stakeholders (workers, consumers, and the public as well as stockholders) in crucial decision making. Dr. Elander has been a member of the Stonepile Writers group in Georgia and the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. He is president of his own Elander Press.