I teach the Constitution for a living. I revere the document when it is used to further social justice and make our country a more inclusive one. I admire the Founders for establishing a representative democracy that has survived for over two centuries.
But sometimes we just have to acknowledge that the Founders and the Constitution are wrong. This is one of those times. We need to say loud and clear: The Second Amendment must be repealed.
As much as we have a culture of reverence for the founding generation, it's important to understand that they got it wrong and got it wrong often. Unfortunately, in many instances, they enshrined those faults in the Constitution. For instance, most people don't know it now, but under the original document, Mitt Romney would be serving as President Obama's vice president right now because he was the runner-up in the last presidential election. That part of the Constitution was fixed by the Twelfth Amendment, which set up the system we currently have of the president and vice president running for office together.
Much more profoundly, the Framers and the Constitution were wildly wrong on race. They enshrined slavery into the Constitution in multiple ways, including taking the extreme step of prohibiting the Constitution from being amended to stop the slave trade in the country's first 20years. They also blatantly wrote racism into the Constitution by counting slaves as only 3/5 of a person for purposes of Congressional representation. It took a bloody civil war to fix these constitutional flaws (and then another 150 years, and counting, to try to fix the societal consequences of them).
There are others flaws that have been fixed (such as about voting and Presidential succession), and still other flaws that have not yet been fixed (such as about equal rights for women and land-based representation in the Senate), but the point is the same there is absolutely nothing permanently sacrosanct about the Founders and the Constitution. They were deeply flawed people, it was and is a flawed document, and when we think about how to make our country a more perfect union, we must operate with those principles in mind.
In the face of yet another mass shooting, now is the time to acknowledge a profound but obvious truth the Second Amendment is wrong for this country and needs to be jettisoned. We can do that through a Constitutional amendment. It's been done before (when the Twenty-First Amendment repealed prohibition in the Eighteenth), and it must be done now.
The Second Amendment needs to be repealed because it is outdated, a threat to liberty and a suicide pact. When the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791, there were no weapons remotely like the AR-15assault rifle and many of the advances of modern weaponry were long from being invented or popularized.
Sure, the Founders knew that the world evolved and that technology changed, but the weapons of today that are easily accessible are vastly different than anything that existed in 1791. When the Second Amendment was written, the Founders didn't have to weigh the risks of one man killing 49and injuring 53 all by himself. Now we do, and the risk-benefit analysis of 1791 is flatly irrelevant to the risk-benefit analysis of today.
Gun-rights advocates like to make this all about liberty, insisting that their freedom to bear arms is of utmost importance and that restricting their freedom would be a violation of basic rights.
But liberty is not a one way street. It also includes the liberty to enjoy a night out with friends, loving who you want to love, dancing how you want to dance, in a club that has historically provided a refuge from the hate and fear that surrounds you. It also includes the liberty to go to and send your kids to kindergarten and first grade so that they can begin to be infused with a love of learning. It includes the liberty to go to a movie, to your religious house of worship, to college, to work, to an abortion clinic, go to a hair salon, to a community center, to the supermarket, to go anywhere and feel that you are free to do to so without having to weigh the risk of being gunned downby someone wielding a weapon that can easily kill you and countless others.
The liberty of some to own guns cannot take precedence over the liberty of everyone to live their lives free from the risk of being easily murdered. It has for too long, and we must now say no more.
Finally, if we take the gun-rights lobby at their word, the Second Amendment is a suicide pact. As they say over and over, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. In other words, please the gun manufacturers by arming even the vast majority of Americans who do not own a gun.
Just think of what would have happened in the Orlando night-club Saturday night if there had been many others armed. In a crowded, dark, loud dance club, after the shooter began firing, imagine if others took out their guns and started firing back. Yes, maybe they would have killed the shooter, but how would anyone else have known what exactly was going on? How would it not have devolved into mass confusion and fear followed by a large-scale shootout without anyone knowing who was the good guy with a gun, who was the bad guy with a gun, and who was just caught in the middle? The death toll could have been much higher if more people were armed.
The gun-rights lobby's mantra that more people need guns will lead to an obvious result more people will be killed. We'd be walking down a road in which blood baths are a common occurrence, all because the Second Amendment allows them to be.
At this point, bickering about the niceties of textual interpretation, whether the history of the amendment supports this view or that, and how legislators can solve this problem within the confines of the constitution is useless drivel that will lead to more of the same. We need a mass movement of those who are fed up with the long-dead Founders' view of the world ruling current day politics. A mass movement of those who will stand up and say that our founding document was wrong and needs to be changed. A mass movement of those who will thumb their nose at the NRA, an organization that is nothing more than the political wing of the country's gun manufacturers, and say enough is enough.
The Second Amendment must be repealed, and it is the essence of American democracy to say so.
Watch four pro-gun arguments we're sick of hearing.
Read the original here:
Why It's Time to Repeal the Second Amendment
- The Second Amendment was ratified to preserve slavery - July 12th, 2016 [July 12th, 2016]
- Minn. police shooting reignites debate over Second Amendment ... - July 12th, 2016 [July 12th, 2016]
- The Right to Bear Arms - July 12th, 2016 [July 12th, 2016]
- Second Amendment Basics | Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence - July 3rd, 2016 [July 3rd, 2016]
- The Second Amendment, the Bill of Rights, and the ... - June 25th, 2016 [June 25th, 2016]
- The Second Amendment Is About Revolution - June 25th, 2016 [June 25th, 2016]
- Don't Bank On The Supreme Court To Clarify The Second ... - June 16th, 2016 [June 16th, 2016]
- there is no Second Amendment protection for ... - cnn.com - June 10th, 2016 [June 10th, 2016]
- Hillary Clinton wavers on Second Amendment right to bear arms ... - June 7th, 2016 [June 7th, 2016]
- Politics & 2nd Amendment Archives - Guns.com - May 25th, 2016 [May 25th, 2016]
- Second Amendment - lawbrain.com - May 20th, 2016 [May 20th, 2016]
- Second Amendment Sports - Bakersfield, CA - Yelp - April 18th, 2016 [April 18th, 2016]
- Second Amendment - Conservapedia - October 20th, 2015 [October 20th, 2015]
- Second Amendment | Fox News - October 20th, 2015 [October 20th, 2015]
- The Second Amendment Is a Gun-Control Amendment - October 4th, 2015 [October 4th, 2015]
- Clinton at private fundraiser: SCOTUS is wrong about the ... - October 4th, 2015 [October 4th, 2015]
- Obama Mocks Second Amendment Supporters For Crack Pot ... - October 4th, 2015 [October 4th, 2015]
- Second Amendment - September 25th, 2015 [September 25th, 2015]
- 7th Circuit Court: Illegal Immigrants Have Second ... - August 29th, 2015 [August 29th, 2015]
- Court Rules Illegal Aliens Have Second Amendment Rights ... - August 27th, 2015 [August 27th, 2015]
- Second Amendment - Text, Origins, and Meaning - July 12th, 2015 [July 12th, 2015]
- Second Amendment : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News - July 9th, 2015 [July 9th, 2015]
- Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution - May 30th, 2015 [May 30th, 2015]
- Second Amendment | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia ... - May 28th, 2015 [May 28th, 2015]
- Brantley Gilbert Inks His Love For The Second Amendment ... - May 13th, 2015 [May 13th, 2015]
- 2nd Amendment advocates push to repeal switchblade, other ... - May 12th, 2015 [May 12th, 2015]
- 2015 NRA Convention Interview with Michigan 2nd Amendment Supporters - Video - April 14th, 2015 [April 14th, 2015]
- Second Amendment Youth Leadership Conference Wrap-Up - Video - April 14th, 2015 [April 14th, 2015]
- PASTOR SAYS BLACKS NEED TO GET GUNS AND FIGHT BACK - Video - April 14th, 2015 [April 14th, 2015]
- Second Amendment - Web Mashup for Second, Amendment ... - April 14th, 2015 [April 14th, 2015]
- Six takeaways from the NRA convention - April 13th, 2015 [April 13th, 2015]
- More than 70,000 people attended event - April 13th, 2015 [April 13th, 2015]
- RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS? Police grabs of legal guns on the rise across US - April 13th, 2015 [April 13th, 2015]
- The Death of the Second Amendment - Video - April 12th, 2015 [April 12th, 2015]
- Ben Carson Speaks on Second Amendment at NRA Leadership Forum - Video - April 12th, 2015 [April 12th, 2015]
- As Scott Walker addresses NRA, concealed carry vote criticized - April 12th, 2015 [April 12th, 2015]
- GUN RIGHTS UNDER FIRE Illegal police grabs of legal firearms rising nationwide - April 12th, 2015 [April 12th, 2015]
- Colt 1911 Gold Cup Pistol for Sale - Video - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Some Conservative Lawmakers Working To Roll Back Gun Restrictions - Second Amendment - Video - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Teaching the Bill of Rights: The Second Amendment - Part One - Video - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- SUNSET ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT 1080p - Video - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense - Video - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- GOP hopefuls flock to NRA cattle call - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Nevada Panel OKs Bill to Create Pro-Second Amendment License Plates - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- NRA wants more than 'Second Amendment' - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Is encryption the Second Amendment for the Internet? - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Rand Paul calls NRA snub 'petty' - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- The truth about the NRA's snub of Rand Paul - April 11th, 2015 [April 11th, 2015]
- Backing Out Sun Trust Bank Terminates Gun Shop's Accounts Second Amendment Fox & Friends - Video - April 8th, 2015 [April 8th, 2015]
- 2nd Amendment Keychain - RTBA - Video - April 8th, 2015 [April 8th, 2015]
- Dr. Rand Paul on the Second Amendment - Video - April 8th, 2015 [April 8th, 2015]
- 4.7.15 | Second Scoop: Justice in Jersey, Detroit's Top Cop & CCW, Clear Channel Controversy - Video - April 8th, 2015 [April 8th, 2015]
- Second Amendment Foundation Takes Case Of Arizona Navy Vet ... - April 8th, 2015 [April 8th, 2015]
- State GOP lawmakers look to roll back gun restrictions after midterm wins - VIDEO: Pols work to roll back gun ... - April 8th, 2015 [April 8th, 2015]
- NRA Convention Coming To Nashville This Week - April 8th, 2015 [April 8th, 2015]
- Two Charter Amendments to Be Voted on During Dundee Election - April 7th, 2015 [April 7th, 2015]
- State GOP lawmakers working to roll back gun restrictions after midterm wins - April 7th, 2015 [April 7th, 2015]
- GUN RIGHTS BATTLES GOP state legislators seek to ease gun codes - April 7th, 2015 [April 7th, 2015]
- SAF Takes Case of Arizona Navy Vet Whose Guns Were Seized - April 7th, 2015 [April 7th, 2015]
- Second Amendment Hoodie | Spreadshirt | ID: 101726003 - April 5th, 2015 [April 5th, 2015]
- Colt Commander Pistol for Sale - Video - April 3rd, 2015 [April 3rd, 2015]
- SCLC calling on blacks to Exercise Second Amendment Rights - Video - April 3rd, 2015 [April 3rd, 2015]
- District Drops Appeal Of SAF Concealed Carry Victory - April 3rd, 2015 [April 3rd, 2015]
- SCLC president suspended after comments regarding 2nd Amendment - April 3rd, 2015 [April 3rd, 2015]
- BladeFit and 2A Rights. Second Amendment rules! - Video - April 2nd, 2015 [April 2nd, 2015]
- SCLC suspends Georgia Chapter President for call to bear arms - April 2nd, 2015 [April 2nd, 2015]
- SCLC calling on blacks to "Exercise Second Amendment Rights" - March 31st, 2015 [March 31st, 2015]
- House approves amended re-homing bill - March 31st, 2015 [March 31st, 2015]
- David Mierswa Second Amendment Part 2 - Video - March 29th, 2015 [March 29th, 2015]
- Second Amendment in the 21st Century / New York Ideas 2014 - Video - March 29th, 2015 [March 29th, 2015]
- Campus Carry Talk, How the Second Amendment Applies to Campus Carry - Video - March 29th, 2015 [March 29th, 2015]
- Bearing ArmsRubio, Jordan File "Second Amendment ... - March 29th, 2015 [March 29th, 2015]
- Sen. Rubio, Rep. Jordan propose repealing D.C. gun control laws - March 28th, 2015 [March 28th, 2015]
- SD Attorney General Urges ATF to Respect Second Amendment - Video - March 27th, 2015 [March 27th, 2015]
- The second amendment explained to #gunsense supporters - Video - March 27th, 2015 [March 27th, 2015]
- Who's Going After D.C.'s Gun Laws? Marco Rubio Edition. - March 27th, 2015 [March 27th, 2015]
- Giveaway Prizes for April 7 2015 - Video - March 26th, 2015 [March 26th, 2015]
- Rant on guns - Video - March 26th, 2015 [March 26th, 2015]
- Second Amendment Shirts - Video - March 25th, 2015 [March 25th, 2015]
- Ensuring the Second Amendment Protections - Video - March 25th, 2015 [March 25th, 2015]