Strung Out Episode 44 A GUNUNDRUM

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We welcome back Councilperson David Heuvelman of the Norwalk, Connecticut, City Council for a candid discussion about guns.  Gun control is the sort of subject that people tend to feel their eyes start to glaze over due to the rhetoric that surrounds the issue.

It's only when mass shootings occur (and we have had an amazing spate in the last month) do people start to actively pressure their elected officials to either do something or do nothing.  It seems that the issue will be forever polarized.  However, the first step in figuring out what to do about the culture of gun ownership in the United States is to understand why people own guns in the first place. 

This is where David Heuvelman comes in.  Growing up in a family that for generations kept, used and admired guns, Heuvelman was raised to look at them as a useful tool for hunting, as well as a sports instrument for target practice.   Through David, those of us who have not been raised with guns can appreciate why they play an important part in the lives of those who use them for those purposes.

Heuvelman, also being a councilperson, is part of a suburban city that has to wrestle with the consequences of those who have access for guns without the acclimation and training.  Those people, especially those with mental illness, are increasingly part of the rash of mass killings.  How to preserve rights and yet preserve society becomes a conundrum.  Add into it the money-factor, that is, the desire of gun and gun-related manufacturers to not spoil a healthy market, and politicians that are supported by gun lobbies like the NRA the issue begins to take on the polarizing and paralyzing aspect that it has had for the past 40 years.   

Finally, the idea of what was meant by the second amendment becomes an issue unto itself.  Were the founding fathers trying to make sure we all had guns?  Was it something that was more in step with the late 18th century United States?  Is it an amendment that, like the third amendment that doesn't make a lot of sense in modern America? 

We attempt not to take sides on issues, but look at the issues themselves that leave us with a Gunundrum on Strung Out. 

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