Guest column: The Second Commandment vs. the Second Amendment - by Rep. Ed Stafman Guest columnist

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author is a Rabbi and a leftist. The combination seems fatal to logical thought, at least when it comes to guns. He invokes his religious principles as if those should be implemented into law, and parrots leftist talking points as if they're proven fact.

As a liberal screed it ticks all the boxes.

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We should all be outraged by the epidemic of gun violence in America, and equally outraged at those politicians who have elevated guns to idols. (Actually, we are outraged by leftists like the author blaming inanimate objects like guns when evil people should be blamed. We are outraged that the Left has allowed crime to run rampant, declining to prosecute "minor" crimes, because the poor, blacks, and the homeless, etc, apparently should be excused from prosecution because of their status. We are outraged that justice is not equal, because J6 people are handed the harshest of sentences while the rioters from the summer of 2020 largely got a pass.

Guns are idols? Idolatry is the worship of false gods. Having a high regard for a constitutionally-protected weapon is not idolatry.)

The Bible’s Second Commandment condemns idol worship — (Oh, so we are to enact laws based on the Bible? Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?)

absolute loyalty to and veneration of any object, divorced from all countervailing principles, and not subject to logic or debate. (That is, if one disagrees with the author's position on guns it is idolatry, and an abandonment of logic or debate. This is an ignorant claim, given all the debate on guns in society, with gun defenders offering various logical arguments.)

The Second Amendment to the U.S, Constitution protects the right to right to own guns, a right which I generally support. (The author cedes his argument. So why did he write this article?)

But by treating that right as absolute, (Red Herring. No one treats gun ownership as an absolute right. And the fact that there are hundreds or even thousands of gun laws that restrict ownership, possession, and use, means there is no such thing as absolute gun rights.

However, there is one right that is absolute, with no restriction or modification allowed: The right to an abortion.)

divorced from other protected rights like public safety, and by refusing to debate or compromise, (The author must not read or watch the news much. Guns have been subject to intense debate on both sides.)

some have turned guns into idols which they worship. (He repeats his claim for no reason. And by the way, what a person worships is not a matter of law.)

The statistics speak for themselves. America is already approaching 15,000 gun deaths this year, with another 12,000 injured, averaging more than 100 gun deaths per day. (The author of course is lumping together gun deaths and injuries regardless of cause. Many of those gun incidents were not crimes. We think the relevant number is the murder rate, which yields different statistics:

Remember that the author was citing year-to-date numbers, while the above chart shows murder-by-cause for an entire year.)

Each of these victims has a name, a story, a family. More than 600 of the dead are our children and teens. We’re approaching 200 mass shootings this year, more than one a day. (The author's definition of "mass shooting" is an event when more than a couple of people were shot or who died. So if a guy robs a convenience store and shoots and kills the clerk and wounds a customer, that's a mass shooting. While we do not intend to minimize the tragedy of any sort of death due to any sort of means, dishonestly inflating the numbers does no service to anyone.

And we might do well to ask the reason for all crime, not just gun crime. Why is society violent? Why is there chaos? We would suggest that leftist politicians overseeing the largest cities in the US are certainly to blame. Almost without exception, the worst gun problems and the worst living conditions are in Democratically-governed large cities. 

But more to the point, the decay of moral precepts, fostered by media, government, Hollywood, and various interest groups, has surely had an effect. The family unit is under constant attack by progressives, while morals are routinely mocked and derided. Latchkey kids, unsupervised and fed leftist propaganda in school, are no longer being taught the traditional values that built our society. 

Our problem isn't guns, it is a culture that has abandoned Christianity and objective morality. It is ironic indeed that the author appeals to the Bible, but is unable or unwilling to bring its moral precepts into the argument.)

More Americans have died from gun deaths in 2022-23 than died in combat during the 20 years of the Vietnam War. (Um, no. 

In 1995 Vietnam released its official estimate of the number of people killed during the Vietnam War: as many as 2,000,000 civilians on both sides and some 1,100,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., lists more than 58,300 names of members of the U.S. armed forces who were killed or went missing in action.

US gun deaths in 2023 have totaled 13,959 YTD, and in 2022 the number was 48,000. And by the way, why doesn't author have similar outrage about the 37,000 people who die in auto accidents each year?

In 2019, the population-based motor vehicle crash death rate in the United States (11.1 per 100,000 population) was the highest among 29 high-income countries.

These are preventable deaths. It seems we need some common sense, reasonable traffic laws, or maybe we should ban cars.)

Gun violence is now the leading cause of death of American children. (35% are gun suicides.)

This legislative session, I introduced a modest proposal to address part of the problem: (For the Left, every day is a new day. Nothing has been done before. therefore new laws are needed to address the problem, as if there aren't many gun laws already on the books.

There were 209 gun deaths in Montana in 2019, while Montana also has the highest percentage of households in the US with at least one gun [66.3%]. The author would need to explain how guns can permeate Montana culture without there being a serious gun violence problem.)

an “extreme risk” bill which permits law enforcement or a family member to petition a judge to temporarily remove a firearm from someone who poses an extreme risk of using it to harm themself (sic) or others. Several Montanans testified that such a law would have saved a family member’s life. Twenty states have similar laws and the Tennessee Governor has called his state’s legislature into special session to consider such a law. 

My proposal contained robust due process protections to assure that nobody’s gun is removed except upon solid evidence. The gun is promptly returned when the crisis has passed. Fox News reports that 80% of Americans support these laws. (This means that someone who is acting "funny" would be subject to gun confiscation. This is astonishingly subjective. No wonder it didn't pass.)

I presented my bill to the House Judiciary committee. In an unprecedented move, (We doubt it was "unprecedented.")

Republicans immediately tabled the bill on a party line vote without allowing the normal process of discussion or debate. The idea that we could adopt reasonable safety protections (Yes, they're always "reasonable" and "common sense.")

in the face of extensive gun violence was taken as an affront to the absoluteness that gun idolatry entails, rooted in a radically extreme interpretation on the Second Amendment and a rejection of the Second Commandment. (Baseless, unsupported assertions. What sorts of "extreme interpretations?" Why should the Second Commandment be implemented as law? What "extensive gun violence" is there in Montana?)

Instead of working to reduce gun violence, Republicans passed several laws this session that encourage the spread of more guns. One will allow someone to buy an arsenal of guns and hide it from law enforcement. (This sounds like a good thing.)

Another prohibits “discrimination” against gun manufacturers so that a transportation company may not charge a premium to ship guns; instead, the added safety costs of transporting guns are spread to other customers. (This sounds like a good thing.)

I spoke on the House floor in opposition to these bills. When I said that guns have become idols, Republican leaders quickly objected, claiming that my statement breached decorum. (Ironically, the Left always objects to invoking the Bible.)

Yet, that same language would soon thereafter appear as the title of a New York Times op-ed, “Gun Idolatry is Destroying the Case for Guns.” (Ah, the Leftist NYT happens to use the same language, as if this was important.)

Actions have consequences. Those who worship guns and summarily reject legislation that will save numerous lives (How many of the 209 gun deaths in Montana will not occur if the author's law was implemented?)

will have blood on their hands, language which, incidentally, is rooted in the Bible (Isaiah 1:15). (The author keeps on forcing his religious beliefs upon us.)

Republicans boast about their commitment to freedom. But what about the freedoms of those who wish to shop in a mall, to send their kids to school, to go to work, a nightclub, a sporting event or to any public place, without fear of being one of the 100 Americans who will die from a gun related death today? And what about the freedom of speech for those who would dare challenge Republican politicians to debate the issue? (This is a non-sequitur. There is no right to freedom from violence, although a safe, orderly society, subject to constitutional limitations, is certainly an obligation of government. 

People have a reasonable expectation that their neighborhoods and cities would be safe. However, the Left is working hard to make sure that doesn't happen, for the purpose of  deliberately creating chaos in society. This is so the system can be dismantled and a new system, Marxism, can be installed.

Thus it is in the interest of the Left for there to be more and more crime and disorder. A key part of this is more and more restrictions on guns, eventually resulting in a ban on guns, which would facilitate the overthrow of the American system. Any armed opposition would complicate this, which is why they so focused on guns.)

We can’t allow a distorted view of the Second Amendment to overrule the Second Commandment. (This is the second time the author has brought this up, again without explanation.)