A one-act science fiction play
Scene: In 1789, two years after the U.S. Constitution was signed, U.S. Representative James Madison prepared to submit to Congress a "Bill of Rights," which he proposed should be added to the Constitution. A final version of the bill would contain 10 amendments, among them the Second Amendment — which in addition calling for the need for a "well regulated militia for the security of a free state," ensured that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
While some of the Constitution's framers and President George Washington were debating the amendments late in 1789, the most senior of the constitutional framers, Benjamin Franklin, burst into chambers with stunning news:
FRANKLIN: Most honorable colleagues and friends, I have an extremely important announcement — perhaps the most important in our country's history.
MADISON: Ben, we've appreciated your sage advice during recent years, but we're really down to finalizing these 10 amendments. You're certainly welcome to monitor our proceedings …
FRANKLIN: What I'm about to tell you will have dramatic implications for the specific wording of your amendments, particularly the Second Amendment. Could I have the floor please?
ALEXANDER HAMILTON: Why not? I'm always interested in hearing what our crafty Benjamin has been up to.
FRANKLIN: Thank you, Alexander. Actually, gentlemen, I've been up to quite a lot. But I seriously doubt any of you believe me. There is no easy way to say it, so I'll just say it: I have been to the future.
PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON: You've what?
FRANKLIN: I have seen the future of our country. Some of it is incredible, and some of it is extremely disturbing.
HAMILTON: We've always applauded your ingenious mind, Ben. But what kind of an opium-spun dream are we talking about here?
FRANKLIN: Over recent years as we worked on the Constitution, I've been building a time machine, which I completed a month ago. I took my first trip last week, to the year 2016.
MADISON: How fun. (guffaws). We all thought you looked a bit weathered.
FRANKLIN: Go ahead, laugh. I don't expect any of you to believe me, I can scarcely believe it myself. But I actually went there and stayed about five days.
THOMAS JEFFERSON: And what, pray tell, did you learn on your little vacation? By the way, were you expecting remuneration during your absence?
FRANKLIN: I'm writing a report, but what I saw and learned was almost too fantastic to communicate. Everything is fast — people whiz around in horseless carriages at amazing speeds. Large craft called "airplanes" roar across the skies like thunder. Buildings, right here in Philadelphia, reach to the sky. People talk fast. But they seem to spend most of their time looking at small gadgets they carry around in their hands. Everything in their lives is dependent upon devices they call computers. All of their computers are somehow linked together in a big mother computer called "internet." People write anything they want on this internet — even things dangerous to the country — and nobody cares. I also learned they have devised some kind of super weapons, atomic and hydrogen bombs, that involve splitting atoms. They even say humans have been to the moon.
MADISON: Interesting, Ben, but what do any of these fantastic visions have to do with the Bill of Rights we're sending to Congress?
FRANKLIN: Everything, especially the Second Amendment. Certainly, we want to grant the right for people to keep and bear arms. But do you have any idea what kind of arms they have more than 200 years from now?
JOHN ADAMS: I would surmise that future generations will greatly improve upon the Kentucky Long Rifle or the Brown Bess musket. I believe they would not only enhance their accuracy and range, but also the number of successive rounds that can be fired.
FRANKLIN: You aren't even close. In the year 2016 they have semi-automatic guns called "military assault rifles" — ones that they call AR-15, and others, that carry multiple rounds in removable magazines — more than 30 in some cases, and large bullets that travel with amazing velocities. From newspaper reports I read, such weapons can kill scores of people in minutes.
JEFFERSON: Well Ben, entertaining your fertile imagination, assuming you believe you saw such weaponry, I'm sure it is in the safe hands of the military and police authorities. Such devices must certainly make short work of wars.
FRANKLIN: No, that's just it. The people, anybody, can buy these weapons on the open market! And in my research I learned they have been used to commit horrible mass killings in our country and in other countries across the world. While I was there a gunman killed 49 people and seriously wounded as many using one of those weapons. There have been mass killings of children at schools. Thousands upon thousands of private citizens in America have died by gunfire.
ADAMS: People have to be insane to commit such crimes, or for any government to allow them to continue.
FRANKLIN: There are just so many people. In 2016 there are about 322 million in our country, and about 7 billion in the world. These massacres are happening more frequently in the 21st century and the people who commit them seem to keep getting more vicious.
WASHINGTON: With that many people everywhere, I'm not surprised they would be going mad.
JEFFERSON: Why doesn't the government restrict these weapons to the military and police authorities?
FRANKLIN: It seems that in the future, Congress is controlled by special interest groups backed by wealthy citizens. Congress does their bidding rather than pursue the general welfare of the public. Before I returned I heard of a powerful and influential organization that seems to have been efficient in keeping the status quo in America regarding private gun ownership. Meanwhile, the horrific mass killings continue year after year.
MADISON: Everyone knows you're bright, Ben, and you undeniably have a more active imagination than any of us here. But I think I speak for the others when I say I don't believe you built a time machine. I seriously doubt time travel is possible, but recalling what George here pulled off a few years ago on the Delaware and how he dispatched the Hessians, perhaps we shouldn't be so skeptical about miracles. I've seen how astonishingly fast you invent things and I have to believe that future generations will develop many wondrous things, including bigger, more efficient guns and weapons. But I can't see a compelling reason to change any of the language in the Second Amendment. As in other amendments, we need to keep the wording general so that it's not restrictive and confining to individual states. Future generations will have to deal with new inventions and advancements, such as those of which you speak. Perhaps they will even add their own amendments.
FRANKLIN: None of you have seen what I have seen. Some kind of language is needed in the Second Amendment to keep private citizens, especially deranged people, from having the kind of weapons I saw. This is a grave error that we're making here. I pray that history does not judge us too harshly for what we've done, or should I say, failed to do.
MADISON: Your concerns are duly noted. Do you have anything else to add, Ben?
FRANKLIN: I just wanted to tell Alexander that there is a very popular stage play about his life in New York City. It is a musical and it tells his life story in a very strange poetic form, called "rap."
MADISON: Interesting. Are you planning any more travels, Ben?
FRANKLIN: Truthfully, no. I'm destroying the machine. The future is much too frightening and nothing in the past interests me that much, especially all that trouble we had with King George.
Frank E. Baker is a freelance writer who lives in Eagle River.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.