(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A few years ago—it may have been in the wake of the Parkland school shooting, when I myself was still a teacher—I had published in the Daily Caller a unique (albeit obvious) solution to the epidemic of mass violence, which so often seems to come in waves.
The answer, I argued, was not to meddle with the 2nd Amendment but to revoke the 8th Amendment banning “cruel and unusual punishment” when such circumstances warranted it.
Sadly, the editor thought it was intended to be satirical, but there may be a good reason no fascists have attempted to take over Italy since Benito Mussolini met his demise strung up like a bloated hog.
Indeed, leftists are correct in arguing that America’s Founding Fathers never envisioned the capacity for destruction that we know in the modern era. Nonetheless, their underlying principle in establishing the right to bear arms was to protect against tyranny.
Suggesting it be banned may well be a moot argument given the presence of tyranny in American government, but further banning the paltry, skeletal version of gun rights that remains will not do anything to deter gun violence.
The 8th Amendment, by contrast, seems a bit archaic in the modern era. In our coddled society, the Founding Fathers, who were accustomed to sending scofflaws to the stockades, might never have imagined how easy evil-doers would have it.
Killers like the 18-year-olds in New York and Texas, as well as the Chinese radical in California—all of whom recently committed atrocious crimes against society—are being incentivized to do so, whether for attention or to serve an extremist ideology that is advanced by their atrocities.
The only answer to unspeakable horror like the slaughter of 19 schoolchildren and their teachers should be the unspeakable stigma of shame and humiliation that accompanies it.
It is disgraceful enough that we know the names of killers but rarely the victims. But so be it. Our introduction to Salvador Ramos, regardless of his motives, should be seeing his nude corpse impaled, anus-first, in the town square.
For those like Payton Gendron who survive and are taken into custody, the paper smock was a nice start, but some tar and feathers would be better.
Perhaps Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the soon-to-be-determined GOP candidate for attorney general (either incumbent Ken Paxton or challenger George P. Bush) can put forth a test case for the Supreme Court to rule on while launching their general election bid with a bit of cowboy justice.
Enough with the partisan bickering and finger-pointing.
There is only one culprit and only one solution. And there isn’t much more to be said on the matter that has not already been belabored far too many times.
