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Rescind the 2nd Amendment

Thirty thousand Amer­icans die every year from gunshot wounds, whether from homicide, suicide or accident. The National Rifle Association has thus far opposed attempts to remedy this problem. They remind Americans that the Founding Fa­thers saw fit to assert in the Second Amendment to the Constitution that “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.” Those willing to ex­cuse the wreckage guns have wrought have con­sistently triumphed. No matter what arguments the advocates of gun con­trol deploy — that the phrase “well-regulated” implies some ability on the part of government to limit gun rights; that the verb construction to “bear arms” has been used almost always to de­scribe a military use for weapons; that the Consti­tution is a “living” docu­ment that ought to be in­terpreted in the light of changing circumstances; and that the Founding Fa­thers could never have considered the sort of vio­lence acted out in New­town and in the streets of Chicago a justifiable ex­ample of bearing arms — advocates of “gun rights” will always have their tendentious reading of the Second Amendment to defend their position.

So let’s repeal the Sec­ond Amendment. It is dat­ed, lethal, and morally ab­horrent.

Americans have re­pealed amendments be­fore. The Constitution is not a sacred text. It is a framework for govern­ment, the product of doz­ens of compromises. The men who framed the doc­ument envisioned that it would be changed. They made the process diffi­cult and time-consuming, but it has happened.

The NRA advocates an untrammeled right to keep and bear arms and asserts the constitutional right to do so. Meanwhile, the killings continue. Let’s take aim at that part of the Constitution that provides cover for the NRA. At our current pace, we will continue to bury too many victims of gun violence each month.

The Second Amend­ment emerged out of a context unique to a new nation. When it was rati­fied, America’s leaders relied upon the militia for local defense, to punish Indians, and control slaves, and in a nation separated from its impe­rial rivals by the Atlantic, the militias were ade­quate. They distrusted standing armies. But the conditions from which the Second Amendment emerged obviously no longer apply. Repealing the Second Amendment would de­prive no one of their guns, but it would empower the Congress and state legis­latures to do something effectively to end the slaughter. Some jurisdic­tions will act with deci­sion to limit magazines and increase background checks, and others will not. But let’s get rid of this antiquated and blood­drenched amendment. Let us not wait for the most determined advo­cate of gun rights to de­cide that too many have died.

Oberg is a professor of history at the State Uni­versity College at Gene­seo.