Shooting Irony

   Five Presidents have been shot while in office. Four were Republicans, shot at close range with handguns wielded by private citizens. Two assassination attempts were made against a sixth President, another Republican.
   Yet Republicans lead the campaign for more guns in the hands of private citizens, without the restrictions imposed by the Second Amendment, which calls for a "well regulated militia."
   Of the four Republican Presidents shot while in office, three -- Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley and James A. Garfield -- died of their injuries. The fourth, Ronald Reagan, was seriously wounded. One Democratic President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by a rifleman at long range. All five presidential shootings took place in public. Two assassination attempts were made against Republican President Gerald R. Ford, again with handguns, but the shooters missed and Ford was uninjured.
   Of the shooters, all can be said to have mental health issues. GOP candidate Ben Carson passes off the mass killings in schools as being done by "the crazies," and no reason to restrict gun ownership. But that's all the more reason to impose prescreening of gun sales, and to treat those individuals who are mentally unstable.
   Opponents of gun control cite the Constitutional guarantee of the "right of the people to bear arms" and Supreme Court decisions endorsing unlimited gun ownership. However, lobbyists ignore the Second Amendment's call for a "well regulated militia." Moreover, the Supreme Court has been known to make mistakes. Justice Stephen Breyer, for example, cited the Court's decision that upheld the detention of Japanese-Americans, as well as American citizens of German and Italian descent, during World War II. And Justice John Paul Stephens has written that historically, the Court has treated the Second Amendment as requiring a "well regulated militia" functioning under state governments. In addition, Stephens called for a slight modification of the Second Amendment to reinforce that concept. The change would insert the words "while serving in a militia" in order to increase gun control in America.
   Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates continue their chant for more guns in the hands of more people, even though Republican Presidents have been victims of gun violence.