Guns, guns, for everyone!

The Associated Press’ article titled, “Justices may extend gun owner rights nationwide,” explains the United States Supreme Court’s suggestion to completely remove US cities’ bans on handguns. While the second amendment to the Constitution protects citizen’s rights to own a firearm for self-defense, many cities like Chicago and Oak Park have prohibited handguns to prevent gun violence.

This decision that the Supreme Court is likely to pass is a direct example of “Politics of Consumption” which we have defined in class as, “how the government regulates what we buy and the way we consume things.” If this decision passes, then the opportunity to purchase goods has increased for US citizens. While this may result in a slight increase in the number of firearms sold/owned in the US, this ruling is not intended to be a move to stimulate the economy. However, it is interesting to examine how the ruling that the Supreme Court is expected to hand out will not only incorporate the second amendment, but also the “due process” clause of the 14^th amendment.

The “due process” clause states that, “no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law” and forbids a state to make or enforce any law “which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” This is especially intriguing because if you think about it, the government is going to weaken protective gun laws because they do not want to “deprive anyone of property,” however the government continues to regulate laws concerning people owning/possessing marijuana.

I am in no way against the second amendment (I am an avid hunter), however I find it silly to remove laws that have protected citizens for over 140 years, while maintaining strict laws against a relatively harmless plant, and using the exact same “due process” excuse for both instances. The government is picking and choosing what they want to regulate strictly or not, which clearly shows that they run the game of Politics of Consumption, not the citizens.