This is our America

Washington state law dictates that every driver must have some form of auto insurance to operate a registered vehicle. "Operating a vehicle without the required coverage is a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of at least $450." With the responsibility of driving there are inherit risks to ones self and to the public. These risks to the public are acknowledges and provided for with an insurance plan. Owning a car is a constitutional right (thank you IV amendment) and a personal privilege, much like owning a firearm.

Professor of history at Brooklyn College, Andrew Meyer,  proposed a gun-insurance mandate and in doing so wrote: "The Second Amendment guarantees that gun ownership is a right, not a universal actuality on the terms most convenient to those desiring weapons. If the Second Amendment allows that every citizen may be compelled to pay the fair market value of a weapon, it also allows that each gun owner may contribute toward private funds mitigating the social costs of gun use."

This creates an intriguing solution. One that would be nearly impossible. One that would create far more serious issues than already exist. Granted there are serious flaws in the dream, that the implementation of a mandatory personal insurance for all firearms would reduce the number of firearms or at least increase the public safety. However back door policy making tactics worked for William Wilberforce and his dream of ending British transatlantic slave trade, so who is to say it can't work in today's modern American empire.

Yet I don't believe an instillation of mandatory firearm insurance or even firearm bans themselves are the solution. They are a band-aid for a headache or a tourniquet for a sprained ankle, an ineffective treatment of a symptom and  ignoring completely the greater illness.

Gun violence isn't caused by violent games or by accessibility of firearms. The gun violence in this country is caused by  it's overwhelming lack of hope. We as a country had the audacity to hope, I'm not saying President Obama has let this country or its citizens down in any way shape or form. Not even Caesar could change the empire in a day. Policy makers, gun-control advocates, and the NRA need to refocus their efforts. Instead of treating a symptom they need to treat the illness of America, they need to find a way to bring Hope back to the people.

In Greek mythology Pandora was given to the king of men to punish humanity. She was given a box (or jar depending on which version of the myth you prescribe to) and told never to open it. Different versions have different details surrounding her opening it, however they all are entirely the same in that all manner of plague and pestilence escaped to ravage humanity. Yet the one thing that didn't escape, the one thing that would have been the complete destruction of all humanity was the loss of hope.

For without hope; order, government, and society would collapse. For without hope there would be no reason to pay taxes, no reason to abide by the laws, no reason to go to work, and no reason to care about anyone or anything. It isn't the marketing of violent video games that create violence among children, its the feeling of helplessness its the powerlessness of their situation that causes them to lash out, not some pimp beating on his hoes on grand theft auto. 

If lobbyists, politicians and organizations want to reduce gun violence they shouldn't be looking at how to limit accessibility or increase restrictions. They should be looking at how to put power back in the hands of the people.The death of the "American Dream" has never been more evident than it is today. If they want to do something about violence in America, they need to give Americans a reason not to kill their neighbor. They need to give Americans a purpose and a goal. They need to give Americans back the hope of a better tomorrow. They need to give Americans a reason to hope for a future and not to try and go out in a blaze of ill-conceived glory.