Marcia Meoli: The view from the other side of the U.S. gun control looking glass
Alice, now a grown woman, considered where she might take her family for a long overdue vacation. She wondered if visiting the United States was a good idea. Then, she thought about her childhood and happy summer days, including her time in Wonderland. She considered gathering her own little children and make their eyes bright and eager with her Wonderland tale, but, because of her simple and loving heart, thought that she should return to Wonderland first, to be sure it was OK.
So Alice ran across the field, hoping to see the Rabbit with his stop-watch and cane. Not seeing him, it took some time to find the hedge. But find it she did with the rabbit hole still here, to her amazement! Down, down, down she went, past the cupboards and bookshelves, the maps and pictures, past the empty jar of orange marmalade. Finally, she landed as she had years before, upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves.
She then saw the Rabbit, scurrying like before, nervously checking his stop-watch.
“Oh dear! I shall be too late,” he said. Alice chased him to find out what he could possibly be late for. “The Jubilee! I need to file papers or I shall miss the deadline.”
“What deadline?” asked Alice, to which she received no response.
The Rabbit continued to scurry about. This drew Alice’s curiosity. She tried to follow the Rabbit, but he seemed to scurry in all directions at once and Alice found herself assembled on the bank of a river, surrounded by a strange-looking party of animals assembling, cross and uncomfortable. They were all concerned about missing the Jubilee deadline.
“What is the Jubilee?” Alice asked, to no one in particular.
A Mouse, who seemed to have some authority among them, told the tale. “Our Constitution has a paragraph mentioning bankruptcy in a vague sort of way. Some greedy attorneys devised a scheme to ensure that they will always have lots of work to charge for. They got justices appointed to the high court who ruled that everyone in the whole country has a right to cancel their debts every seven years. Then they won the support of religious zealots who quoted Deuteronomy 15 and Leviticus 25. Then, the Queen decreed that all subjects must hire bankruptcy attorneys to file the papers every seven years, or be subject to fine and imprisonment.”
At this point, Alice noticed that the Red Queen was passing nearby. Upon hearing the long tale of the Jubilee and the penalties for violating the Jubilee Law, she screamed “Off with Their Heads!”
“Stuff and nonsense,” said Alice, at which the Mouse quietly observed that the Queen had gone quite mad after years of unilateral rule and isolation.
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“What a strange way to run a country,” Alice said. “Making laws solely to help a few people make more money. And what happens when all this debt is cancelled? What about the people who were owed all that money?”
The Mouse replied: “They lost all that money; then they had to file Bankruptcy. Then, no one would lend any money to anyone anymore and the entire system fell apart.”
“That sounds ridiculous,” said Alice.
“Possibly,” said the Mouse, “but I have heard of a country that declared a Constitutional Right to have firearms. Everyone can get any kind of gun and take them anywhere. So people are shooting at each other everywhere — in stores, schools, churches, concerts, shopping areas. It was all funded by the people who made the guns and it helped them make huge profits, which then allowed them to have more power and pass more laws encouraging use of more firearms.”
It was then that Alice remembered what was happening in the U.S. Almost on a regular basis, news came through about killings with guns. It was happening in every conceivable place. Yet, if anyone tried to stop the selling of guns, they were met with overwhelming political opposition.
The answer was always more and more guns, all made by the gun manufacturers who were paying for the campaigns of the politicians who stopped any effort to restrict the number of guns circulating throughout the country.
Alice made a quick exit from Wonderland and made her decision: She would stay home with her children, in the country they know, where not all problems are resolved, but where leaders at least work together sufficiently to keep most people safe and where most things at least make sense.
— Community Columnist Marcia Meoli is a Holland attorney and resident. Contact her at Meolimarcia@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Marcia Meoli: The view from the other side of the U.S. gun control looking glass
