Uranus, Mars and the Supreme Court’s Gun Control Ruling

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

– Amendment II of the Constitution’s “Bill of Rights”

Thursday’s 5-4 decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn the ban on handguns in DC occurred as Uranus (individual freedoms) stationed retrograde, aspecting the USA’s natal Mars (weapons) and Neptune (ideology). From Earth’s vantage point, when a planet appears to be motionless in the sky its symbolic energies are enhanced.

What further solidifies this idealistic attitude among many Americans towards guns, the military, and aggressive behavior is that when the Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791, Mars was in Virgo exactly conjoining the USA Neptune. To call the first ten Constitutional Amendments the Bill of Rights is highly appropriate. The Sun in Sagittarius challenges Mars in Virgo, reflecting the first two amendments. The first Amendment provides individual expression (Sun) of religion (Sagittarius); the second the right “to keep and bear Arms” (Mars). The Sun in Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter which is Libra, the sign of justice.

Transiting Mars in Leo was opposing the USA’s natal Moon (the public) in Aquarius (a sign ruled by Uranus) yesterday. This represented action about weapons (Mars) that the public is emotionally divided about (gun freedom vs. gun control). The Moon in Aquarius describes why Americans are highly emotional regarding their rights and individual freedoms. The Aquarian Moon and the USA Mars/Neptune alignment reflect that the US is estimated to have the highest civilian gun ownership rate in the world.

The USA was born with the Sun (self-identity), Mercury (mental thinking), Venus (values), and Jupiter (judicial system) in Cancer. Cancer is about nurturing and feeling secure as it is a sign ruled by the Moon. Many Americans feel secure if they own a gun, but according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data, gun deaths in the US average 80 a day with 34 of them being homicides. Yesterday’s Last Quarter Moon in Aries (a sign ruled by Mars), challenged the USA Jupiter in Cancer. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac and this marked the first significant Supreme Court ruling on gun rights since the Bill of Rights.

Listening to the reporting by many popular media outlets, the Supreme Court’s ruling sounded like an absolute victory for the NRA/pro-gun lobby. As someone who is for peace and believes that more guns create more fear and violence in society, I was disturbed by the majority ruling and curious to take a look at the Court’s opinion.

In writing for the majority, Justice Scalia makes clear that the ruling does not outlaw all forms of gun control. It does not change laws against ownership by “felons or the mentally ill.” Nor does it negate laws “forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” Handguns cannot be totally banned as they belong to an “entire class of “arms” that Americans overwhelmingly choose for the lawful purpose of self-defense.” The Court ruled that the law cannot require a “trigger lock” on “any lawful firearm in the home” that “makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the core lawful purpose of self-defense.”

The most outrageous part of Justice Scalia’s opinion is barring firearms from “sensitive places such as schools and government buildings.” Shouldn’t every place where people gather be considered “sensitive”? A workplace is a very “sensitive place” as you have people who do not necessarily work together by choice, and people are there to make their livelihood, so tensions can run high. Having easy access to firearms can enable emotions to spiral out of control, with tragic results. Unfortunately this occurs so often there’s even a term for it – “going postal.”

There was also major news about the planet Mars yesterday. Soil samples analyzed by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander show the soil on the planet’s northern arctic planes to be alkaline, similar to soil found on Antarctica. Or as Samuel Kounaves of Tufts University said at yesterday’s teleconference: “We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future. The sort of soil you have there is the type of soil you’d probably have in your backyard.”

Looking at pictures of Mars and the Martian soil look eerily similar to certain parts of the American Southwest. It cannot be ruled out that at some point in the history of our solar system, a civilization might have once existed on Mars. And if so, did that civilization engage in aggressive actions that destroyed itself or its civilization there?