The late Lakota scholar Vine Deloria Jr. often made the point of what had unbalanced our society. He said that we are focused upon our rights-the Second Amendment right to bear arms, property rights, privacy rights, etc. There's nothing wrong with those, he said. What is missing is asking what are our responsibilities as citizens as we exercise our individual rights.
Lakota culture put much more emphasis on responsibilities for our community, for the common good. So, I am prompted to ask those who focus on their right, for instance, to bear arms--what is your responsibility to the wider community in regards to the exercise of that right? To those of us who are gun owners, as I am, what is my responsibility as I exercise that right?
Ninety people a day are dying in gun violence, two-thirds from suicide.
What is my responsibility to try and protect my community from the misuse of my right to bear arms? All of us gun owners should be at the front of the line taking responsibility to see that there are reasonable, common sense laws about guns so that our right to bear arms is balanced by the wider community's right to be safe in their schools and workplaces and homes.
What is most wrong about our society today, in my mind, is that we have thrown out any sense of responsibility in favor or exercising our individual rights, no matter what the impact is upon others.
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Anderson lives in Ponsford, Minn.
