Boston University Law Review January, 1995
75 (1995): 57.
Posted for Educational use only. The printed edition remains canonical. For citational use please visit the local law library or obtain a back issue.

GUN CRAZY: CONSTITUTIONAL FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS AND DERELICTION OF DIALOGIC RESPONSIBILITY

Andrew D. Herz *

A powerful lobby dins into the ears of our citizenry that these gun purchases are constitutional rights protected by the Second Amendment . . . . Our decisions belie that argument, for the Second Amendment was designed to keep alive the militia.

¾ Justice William O. Douglas[1]

Guns are often central characters in the rites of passage acted out by youngsters all over the nation, in both urban and rural settings.[195] For many kids, falling in love with the gun may begin with a glimpse of some powerful weapon in the hands of Rambo or Batman.[196] The romance quickly moves to the toy store, where many merchants display row after row of realistic firearms, everything from the popular "SuperSoaker 200" water gun to the "Combat Gear Electronic Gun" (with four different electronic sounds: "clip loading," "3 shot burst," "20 shot automatic," and "full action battle"), and the "X1 Recoil Blaster" (whose owners can "actually 'feel' the gun fire" with realistic recoil action, bright green pulsating light and robotic voice commands, including "fire, fire, fire"). [197] "[E]xperts who have studied the relationship between children and their toys say playing with fake weapons has no redeeming value and only desensitizes children to the shocking reality of crime and firearms." [198] Some kids start this desensitization process by making war with these all-too-real toys. Others need not wait that long to learn about guns. They can start when they begin to learn their "ABCs."[199][Page 102]

These gun-toting rites of passage from childhood are important. As a result, and like many religions, firearms fundamentalists depend on the inculcation of belief and rituals in youth. As the NRA officially recognizes: "The youth of America are our future. . . . [W]ithout their interest and involvement, there will be no gun ownership or hunting."[200] The NRA backs up that commitment with action: The Whittington Center Adventure Camps offer to teach youngsters, aged thirteen through seventeen, fundamental marksmanship skills and sports like rifle silhouette, high power rifle, trap, and skeet.[201] American Rifleman promotes "Youth Guns Today" in a feature story.[202] The NRA's Firearms Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund sponsors an essay contest for all elementary, junior high, and high school students "celebrating the Second Amendment as an integral part of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."[203] The NRA sells a "Youth Coloring Book" ¾ David's First Hunt .