Morbid historical irony from the Annapolis Capital Gazette shooting -- Will it move us to act?

I have been so saddened by what happened in Annapolis, MD on Thursday.

Yes, this time it hit very close to home.

My parents subscribed to the Capital Gazette paper for years while they lived in Davidsonville, an area just west of Annapolis.

I find it particularly poignant that this particular newspaper is a direct descendant of the colonial Maryland Gazette, a paper whose history included actively opposing the Stamp Act -- the hated tax imposed by the English parliament on the American colonies in 1765 -- one of a series of acts that led to the American Revolution.

Annapolis as a town played a large role in colonial America. There was no Washington, DC until 1790, so Annapolis served both as a prominent seaport and crossroads for the thirteen colonies.

Almost every prominent colonial citizen passed through Annapolis in his/her travels up and down the Atlantic seaboard. They usually stayed at least overnight, and their diaries are replete of the scrumptious Chesapeake Bay seafood fare they ate within the town's taverns.

Annapolis actually served as the nation's capital from 1783-1784. George Washington gave his famous "farewell" resignation from the Army there during that period.

And yes, let's not forget the city's role in a stained side of our history. As we saw in the TV mini-series, "Roots," Annapolis was a major port of entry for the slave trade.

After our country won independence in 1783, Annapolis also played a role in the evolution of our country's self-governance, as we transitioned from The Articles of Confederation to The Constitution we have today. 

In 1786, one year before the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia to debate and establish our present governing foundational document, a call went out for delegates from the colonies to meet in Annapolis. Known today as, "The Annapolis Convention,"  the gathering was an attempt by a number of the leading colonies to discuss and explore ways to address the ineffectiveness of the The Articles of Confederation in regulating commerce. While in the end not much of anything decisive came out of the convention, just holding it gave voice to the growing sentiment within our nascent country that some form of a stronger national central government was indeed needed.

So yes, it can be said that Annapolis and its newspaper played at least a strong supporting role in the forming of our Constitution.

Now with all that history, I find it morbidly ironic after Thursday's shooting how the perversion (at least to my mind) of the original intent of the 2nd amendment by a few powerful forces, now appears to have allowed an attack on one aspect of the 1st amendment -- that of freedom of the press.

I personally envision the Founding Fathers, (again, most of whom knew Annapolis well through their travels) standing around the sidewalks of Annapolis reacting to Thursday's news shaking their heads saying, "We didn't mean for this to be the result of our deliberations over the rights of citizens to maintain arms."

I believe they would say to us today, "Hey, that is why we set up the amendment process in the Constitution -- to allow for adaptation to new realities." 

And whoa, do we have new realities today when it comes to the staggering proliferation and easy access to guns in our society.

They would also likely remind us that the "Right to Bear Arms" itself is an amendment -(granted its part of the The Bill of Rights -- but it's still an amendment).

I respect that this is a very divisive issue in our country today. But we have had many of those before in our history -- with plenty of powerful interest groups mixed in to cloud the issues. The Alien Sedition Act, the presidential election of 1800, the all-too drawn-out controversy over slavery, the right of women to vote, and the civil rights movement of the 1960's . . . are just a few that come to mind). 

In the end, I believe the Founding Fathers (and yes, the Founding Mothers) are up there somewhere crying out, "For goodness sake, stop the madness, and do something!"