Repeal the 2nd Amendment

Let’s stop eulogizing the founding fathers. Some of them were brilliant men, but they were not saints and their work is not sacrosanct. Like the men that wrote the bible, their directives are sometimes anachronistic and many are profoundly inappropriate for todays world. The average high-schooler can’t even tell you if they were written by the government or Charles Dickens.

It’s time to get with the program. Even dogmatic fundamentalist Christians eventually replaced the Old Testament with the New & Improved version.

“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.” The wording has left the amendment open to public debate for more than 200 years. But there should be no debate. Just as Roe v. Wayde was step out of the shadows, so in its last major decision on gun rights, in 1939, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously established the must constructive interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. But on Tuesday 26th June, five members of the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision and edited the 2nd Amendment. In essence, they said: Scratch the preamble, only the last 14 words count.

In doing so, they have done the opposite of what the founding fathers intended. They have curtailed the power of the legislatures and the city councils to protect their citizens and bring themselves into the twenty-first century.

gun control

The majority opinion states that the D.C. handgun ban and a requirement for trigger locks violate the 2nd Amendment. By virtue of this decision, Chicago’s 1982 ban on handguns is not likely to survive a court challenge. A lawsuit seeking to overturn the Chicago ordinance was filed on Thursday by the Illinois State Rifle Association. God help us all. The murder rate in Chicago has risen 13 percent this year. Guns are still the weapon of choice for mayhem in the U.S. About 68 percent of all murders in 2006 were committed with a firearm, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

But as Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in a compelling dissent, the five justices in the majority found no new evidence that the 2nd Amendment was intended to limit the power of government to regulate the use of firearms. They found no new evidence to overturn decades of court precedent. Hallelujah.

Wayne LaPierre, a top official at the National Rifle Association, says his group will file lawsuits in San Francisco and Chicago, among other places. “I consider this the opening salvo in a step-by-step process of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of this freedom,” he told the Associated Press.

Yes, let’s drag this country back into the Wild West, because it was so safe back then. And while we’re at it, let’s bring back lynching – and capital punishment for horse theft.

Gun lovers and the NRA says “An armed society is a police society.”

Bollocks.

The truth is that polite societies do just fine (and dandy) without guns. The United Kingdom’s own police force has operated since 1839 largely without guns. The U.S. has more shootings in one day then the U.K. has in an entire year – or ten. Indeed, if you have a gun in the U.K. (and most other civilized countries) you have only one right – the right to go directly to jail. Do not pass Go – Do not collect $200. Those Brit’s crazy logic goes something like this: Handguns are for killing humans, killing humans is against the law, ergo, hand-guns should be illegal. What part of this isn’t making sense to us?

Repeal the 2nd Amendment? Yes, it’s an anachronism. While we can still walk into a Wal-Mart and say “A pint of skimmed milk and a Glock, please,” this country will never achieve international respect – or its full potential as a modern society.

  1. Rev. Jason Russell Jones 08/19/2008, 19:54

    You said: “Handguns are for killing humans – killing humans is against the law, ergo, hand-guns should be illegal. What part of this isn’t making sense to us?”

    Killing humans isn’t against the law. Murder and manslaughter are against the law, but killing someone that is trying to kill you is perfectly legal.

    The fact that murder rates have risen in Chicago in spite of a handgun ban should tell you that banning handguns doesn’t work. The criminals will carry guns whether they’re legal or not. Law-abiding citizens are left defenseless.

  2. You know, Jason, you may be right – just for the wrong reasons. Clearly, in most societies where there is no second amendment and gun ownership isn’t as rampant as it is here, the issue of criminal ownership of guns just doesn’t arise because even the criminals have a hard time finding guns. Most countries just don’t have these problems on the scale that the U.S. does. The supply just isn’t there. Understand that the second amendment CAUSED this problem, it’s not a means to solving it. And so unfortunately for the United States, the situation may in fact be truly irreversible, which is a great shame. So you may actually be right about needing a handgun at this point in time – and you can thank the founding father’s for making one of the largest errors with one of the most devastating consequences for that. Because it means this country is truly screwed if we all have to start packing like cowboys again.

  3. John W. Frietsch 09/05/2008, 11:04

    This is crazy! Everyone in this country has the right to own a gun (as long as their legal)! And THANK GOD that we do! Otherwise we’d truely be screwed! There are already enough restrictions in play already when it comes to possessing a firearm! I’m only 17 years old and I know my rights as an American Citizen! Im already a member of the NRA. So my point is with the growing numbers in poverty today we can all only be safe with the assisstance of a firearm.

    Thanks

  4. Riiiiight… Just what we need… a 17-year old NRA redneck with a firearm. I don’t even trust you guys to drive safely! This country is soooo screwed…

  5. The statement “handguns are for killing” is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. With statements like that, it’s no wonder your viewpoint is in the minority in America (Over 70% of the general public, the majority of legislators, and the presidential canidates of both main political parties all believe the constitution protects an individual right to bear arms). That’s like saying cars are for vehicular manslaughter, computers are for hacking, and knives are for stabbing. Just because something is capable of being used to commit a crime doesn’t mean that is what it is supposed to be used for. There are over 80 million gun owners in the U. S. and nearly all of them will never use their guns to commit a crime. So stop lumping lawfull gun owners together with the tiny minority of people who use them for crimes.

    Another reason gun control fanatics can’t get any popular support for their policies is because they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. They know nothing about guns or actual gun policies in the U. S., which is demonstrated by this post. Buying a Glock at Wal-Mart? Are you serious? Are you so ignorant as to think that Wal-Mart sells Glocks? News flash for you buddy, there isn’t a Wal-Mart in this country that sells Glocks.

    Also another news flash, every society has to deal with criminal ownership of guns, weather they have the equivalent of a second amendment or not. There are many nations, such as Brazil and Mexico, with stricter gun control laws then the U. S. and high rates of gun crime. There are many reasons for that, but laws that ensure the only people who have guns are violent criminals are certainly a contributing factor. Banning guns and disarming victims is not a solution to violent crime, it’s a contributing factor to it.

  6. Um… news flash… hand guns ARE for killing – people. They have NO other purpose. They are designed to kill humans. That is their exact primary purpose! Cars on the other hand are for driving. They may kill by accident but they are not designed to kill per se. You need to go back to logic school 101 before getting involved into justifying why we should all live in the wild west. Or try living in another country for a while (there are a few hundred to choose from) that doesn’t have the cowboy disease.

  7. Again, there is no validity to your claim that guns have no other purpose besides killing. If that was true, then we would have 80 million gun deaths per year, since we have over 80 million gun owners. But that’s not the case. In fact, it’s funny you compare them to cars, since cars kill more people then guns do. Guns are ment for hunting, collecting, recreational shooting, and self defense (which usually doesn’t involve killing). This is what they are used for. Any other use is something outside of what they are supposed to be used for and is only done by a tiny fraction of gun owners. I’ve owned guns for years and I’ve never killed anyone. What is that? Is it because my guns are defective? I don’t think so. It’s because I, like nearly all other gun owners, am owning and using guns exactly the way they are supposed to be owned and used.

    The issue of gun ownership has nothing to do with the “Wild West” or “Cowboy” disease”. Those are just petty insults that gun control fanatics throw around when they realize their arguments have no facts or popular support. You don’t need to be a Cowboy to hunt, shoot targets, or protect your family with a gun. All of those things are done on a regular basis by real people in the modern world. There is no reason they should suffer for the misdeads of criminals, especially since disarming the lawful would only make the situation worse.

  8. You should read more carefully. I said HAND guns have no other purpose than for killing people. Other guns may be designed for killing animals, others might be specifically designed for target shooting, but most guns are for killing. If you dispute this you are crazy. Hand guns were produced for humans to kill other humans and that is their historical origin. Period. Nearly all guns are designed to kill something – it doesn’t mean you HAVE to kill someone but that is their point. Hand guns (and others) are specifically designed for killing people. You might not have killed anyone but you own a weapon that has killing as its principal design. I don’t expect anyone in the U.S. to ever understand why the rest of the world thinks you’re crazy, you’re from here after all. I’m just telling you, you have a habit of having regular school shootings and then throwing your hands up in the air and saying “how was this allowed to happen?” And the rest of the world replies in unison… “Duh!” But you don’t get it – and so we all look forward to seeing the USA on the news again with their latest “incident” while the rest of us get on with our lives.

  9. Actually the most recent school shooting to make the news was in Finland, not America. School shootings are not an American-only problem.

    Anyway, your distinction between handguns and other guns is meaningless and false. Anyone who knows anything about guns will tell you so. Handguns have the same purpose as all other guns: Hunting (this is rare, but some people do hunt with handguns, mainly for the challenge), target shooting and self defense. The only real difference is that handguns are bought more often for self-defense then any other type of gun, which is not a bad thing. On the contrary, this is why American citizens use guns to stop thousands of crimes per year, something that hardly ever happends in other countries that outlaw armed self defense. Of course, gun control fanatics like you never take this into account, but that doesn’t make it any less important.

    Quite frankly, I don’t care if other nations which keep their citizens disarmed and defenseless have a problem with our right to bear arms. The second amendment is not subject to popular opinion from other countries. Our right to bear arms is a distinction we have from other nations that we rightly feel proud of. If you are in this country, you should try exercising that right at a local shooting range some time. I think you would find it a lot more rewarding and enjoyable then you currently realize.

  10. I’m no more fanatical than you are. I just happen to think based on the evidence of other nations that society is better off without them. It’s too late for that in the USA I realize that… you can’t shut off the tap now… waaay to late… And as it happens I have shot for pleasure a few times and enjoyed it. Rifles and 45’s. I just don’t think it makes sense for us all to be carrying one until we are all able to act like rational beings and keep our tempers under control. No sign of that happening any time soon with 1 in 100 of the US population behind bars… That’s a truly staggering endictment on American society. Hell, in Texas I’d probably feel safer with a gun myself!

  11. I think our absurdly high prison populations is mainly due to the government’s foolish and futile “war on drugs”, which imprison’s thousands of people for non-violent offenses. That day that ends is the day the prison population plummets.

    Anyway, no one said everyone should be carrying guns, not even the NRA. Just rational, law abiding cititzens, aged 21 and up, who want to do so and are willing to receive firearms training and pass criminal background checks. That’s what I did to get my CCW permit and it’s worked out fine.

    My main point is that nations with gun bans are not the gun-free and crime free paradises you make them out to be. Mexico has a near total ban on civilian firearms, yet has a very high rate of gun crime, particularly by drug gangs that have not been disarmed by gun laws at all. Brazil also has a much higher rate of gun crime then the U. S., and stricter gun laws. Sudan and Rwanda could stand as fine exmaples of exactly what gun ban advocates want. In both nations, only the police and groups favored by the government can get guns. What is the result of this? Genocide in both nations carried out by government forces and supported militias against a population totally unable to defend itself. In Rwanda, what ended the genocide? It was a rebel group, armed with guns.

    “Guns = Bad, Gun Bans = good” might be something many people beleive. But that’s not how it works in the real world.

  12. […] guns around like every day household objects. Here here in the United States of America. the second amendment reigns supreme – and so shootings like this remain our collective destiny. No surprise then that the United States […]

  13. The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to ensure that the populace has the firepower to overthrow the government when it becomes a tyranny. “Military weapons” are protected, which is why sawed off shotguns are banned, but pistols cannot be.

    Remember all the school shootings back in the 1920s that your grandparents told you about? When the kids bought submachine guns from the Sears catalogue. Oh right, there weren’t any. The problem isn’t the hardware, it’s the wetware, the people.

  14. You are right Stew, the problem isn’t the hardware, it is the people. Which we are over populated. Kill the people, you kill the crime. Not saying to go into a Genocide and eliminate every american that has blonde hair, or birt that has brown hair….but if “we the people” don’t do anything about this, we will eventually kill eachother to the point of extinction. So maybe the occasional drive by, or robbery is good in our favor. lets just hope it dosn’t happen to us.

  15. Go ahead and repeal the Second Amendment and tell me how that works out for you. See how many of us comply with the laws and regulations that follow. Not many. Go ahead and, with the stroke of a pen, marginalize a large, heavily armed segment of the population that has never comitted a crime more significant than a traffic ticket (the only ones this BS will affect). If you think you’re seeing an insurgency in Iraq, wait til you try to disarm East Tennessee, West Texas, or Montanna.
    I’m an average guy with a family, a master’s degree, and a 6 fiigure salary that basically wants to be left alone. We’re not all red-neck hunters and gun show freaks. I’ve only born a gun against someone once when he tried to jack my car and I can tell you from that experience that a gun in my hand will always trump a SWAT team on my phone.
    The Government will never tell me how, when, or with what I may defend myself and my family. It will not disarm me unless it does so through force and this is a right that I, and many other normal people like me, will kill or die for so it had better be a damn big force. Yea…go ahead and turn small-town America into Fallujia. Great plan hero.

  16. Um…. yeah… you gun people are not violent at all, are you? Point proven. Grow up and get your thinking out of the 17th century. Or move to 17th century Fallujia and have yourself a ball.

  17. NO, point NOT proven.
    I hope and pray that I NEVER, EVER have to use my gun on anyone EVER. If I can go my entire life without getting into a bad situation, I would be overjoyed.

    However, if some violent criminal is threatenting HARM on me, or my family, it’s going to be them that’s hurting, not me.

    ps..does the blog owner want to repeal the first amendment as well…. why did my OTHER post get deleted? There wasn’t anything wrong with it.

  18. Futhermore, I want to dissect a sentence with some rather flawed logic:

    “Handguns are for killing humans – killing humans is against the law, ergo, hand-guns should be illegal. What part of this isn’t making sense to us?”

    I used to take a lot of martial arts. Yeah, I’ve earned a black belt and whatnot. I’m also a collecter of martial weapons. I have several Katana’s (Samurai Swords) on display in my house.

    Swords were not created as a more convenient method of slicing fruit; they were traditionally an implement of war, meant for KILLING people. YET, I have never decapitated anyone with one of my swords.

    Just goe’s to show that just because you own something capable of killing, doesn’t mean it’s mandatory that you kill someone with it. It’s ridiculous to assume that gun owners are just itching to go plug a few holes in someone.

    Like I said, I never want to use my weapon, but it’s there in case I need to.

  19. Some valid points made here – however it’s not obvious life has to be this way. In Europe we call this constant fear the American’s suffer a kind of “seige mentality” where you’re constantly having to protect yourself from something or someone. If you were born in the U.S. to think this way, a world without guns will never make much sense to you because it just seems absolutely right and proper to think this way. When you’re raised with a concept it seems perfectly obvious that it’s correct. Most of the people in Utah are Mormons. They think they chose their religion and don’t realize they’re just victims of their geographical inheritance. It also felt ok to lynch black people in the south because it was obvious they were not really human like the rest of us . Why would anyone question the status quo? And of course although we now have a black president, it’s still ok to beat up faggots. Eventually, however, I believe your backward looking “world view” will eventually become obsolete as the more modern and sophisticated parts of the U.S. exert their influence over those who were raised to think like 18th Century pioneers.

  20. I wish life didn’t have to be that way, but…… crime still exists. I still have to travel through a bad part of town to get to work in the morning, and through it once more to get home at night.

    You’re trying to pass off the notion of protecting myself as unecessary and gratuitous.
    You’re trying to say I only think this way because it’s the “status quo” and there’s no logical basis for my decision to carry a weapon on me.
    Untrue.
    I carry because of the very REAL possibility that “shit could go down”.

  21. i know i am late getting in on this one but,
    the 2nd amendment protecting our rights to bear arms was put in place so that we can defend ourselves from threats foreign or domestic. our founding fathers knew that our new form of government was experimantal and had the forsight to see that it could be corrupted. therefore we have this amendment, so that if there was a military coup our if it turned into a solialistic form of tyranny like it is starting to become, we have the means to defend ourselfs and re-establish the proper form of government. more importantly, our government was founded as a republic, not a democracy, which means that government is put into place to protect the rights of its citizens, not to make policy or social programs. i have seen on the news over the last decade of european countries invading and attacking others as well as in the middle east. if the populous was allowed to have firearms, innocent people would be able to protect thier homes. i say disarm governments before you take away handguns from innocent people. you europeans sound so smug when referencing america’s problems. keep in mind that without americans, you would be under a dictatorship put in place by Hitler. Still think guns are a bad idea? now take it to everyday city life. if a man breaks into your house with a huge knife and has 3 guys with him, you thing you can protect your wife and kids without a handgun that you approved of being illegal? i dont think so, she would be raped, kids would be beaten, and you would be stabbed to death. point is, there are crazy people and they dont need guns to commit crimes. guns allow you to protect yourself from those crazy people. i pray that the writer of the column doesnt have to defend himself oneday from a burgular or rapist.

    peace

  22. It’s true that we might suffer rape and burglary occasionally – and we’re prepared to do so for the better world we inhabit. That is our collective sacrifice – that we might have folk once in a while who can’t defend themselves. On the plus side, we have few school shootings, few murders, few rampages, few gun related accidents etc. etc. — I could go on. Seems a small price to pay for our better lives. But you American’s won’t understand that. It’s all about me me me… me and MY rights, to hell with everyone else… god bless ya…. hopefully now that you have a man with a brain in charge we’ll actually see some change.

    As for the war, yeah, what did you do exactly?? Drop a couple of bombs on Nagasaki killing thousands of civilians after the war was all but over anyway… thanks… you guys are really good at war aren’t you… nice job in Iraq by the way… and Viet Nam… and Korea…

  23. The U.S. is a bizarre mixture of guns, religion and the death penalty. Each feeds the other. Half the states are still living in the early 1900’s. Shit, who the fuck has the death penalty any more?? Arab states, China and those still in the middle ages not included. That’s your company.

  24. um.. freddie, i never promoted war. if you read carefully i said ” i say disarm governments before you take away handguns from innocent people.” i hate war, and over 70% of americans are against this war we are in now, there just happens to be some corrupt people calling the shots. but i dont want to get into a spat about us vs. them because the problems of the world are much much bigger than that. there are a group of elite that are trying to create a new world order and we need to do everything we can to prevent it. they have infiltrated all forms of government across the world and are the ones who create these wars. we have fallen asleep here in america and let some evil people take power (bush/cheney) and not enough people care to try to fix it yet. so i will apologize for most americans, they have forgotten what this country is supposed to represent. anyone reading this, please look up G. Edward Griffin and his research called Hidden Agenda. it will explain all of the bs we see daily. the illuminati are very close to the final stages of their plan to dominate the world. please wake up and stop the maddness

  25. p.s. freddy

    you are wrong. u.s. got involed in the war in 1941, it didnt drop the bombs until 1945. and germany and the axis of power were running through all of europe taking country after country until the u.s. started to freeze their assets and emposed an oil embargo. england, france, and polland werent able to take back thier cities until the u.s. helped with air raids and troop assistance. i agree the atomic bombs were probably uncalled for, but after hitler and his officers commited suicide and mussolini was executed, japan still didnt surrender and was still at war with u.s. Again i will say i am 100% against any war.

    but the argument is over the right to bear arms. i tend to think that we as humans have rights and that the government is there to protect those rights. you seem to like to be told what you can and cant do. if you enjoy fascism then so be it.

  26. Cac – I guess both systems work for their respective populations who seem to be satisfied with them. We accept the risk of our government enslaving us for peaceful society. You can keep your guns – so long as you’re prepared to accept the consequences which is that thousands of people being needlessly shot every year.

  27. well i respect that. there is no right way to govern the people. there will always be flaws and you cant satisfy everyone. there are good and bad parts in all forms of government. i personally dont own a gun, nor does anyone in my immediate family. and i do agree that there is an abuse of that right in america. i wish that a lot of things could be changed.
    peace to all

  28. CommonSense 03/26/2009, 20:46

    Heck, if we could stop the world and let folks like you off, I would be HAPPY to oblige. Guns don’t kill people, liberalism kills people.

    If I were a billionaire, I would personally purchase a firearm with training for every non-felon in America that can legally own and operate a weapon. Liberals are scared to promote their idiocy while freedom loving Americans have the ability to defend the constitution. The first step in the destruction of the Constitution is the destruction of the ability to defend it. The 2nd amendment is no threat to anyone. Mexico has much stricter gun laws, and look at it. The CRIMES that are committed are by folks who get the guns illegally ANYWAY.

    Guns only scare criminals and tyrants.

    Let’s stop the word and let all the liberals off… their minds havent been on earth in ages anyway.

  29. “What luck for rulers that men do not think” Adolf Hitler

    Your quote, not mine. Perhaps you should take the time to consider the 25,000,000 people that were killed in Eastern Europe by the Wermacht on their march to the USSR, or the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto that held the German Army at bay for a month with a few handguns, or the 15,000,000 Russian disidents whose only crime was to speak against Josph Stalin or the mother who killed her violent ex-husband who was attacking her, in direct violation of a restraning order. The list goes on and on.

    Speaking of Joesph Stalin, here is a quote from him you can use “We don’t let them have ideas, why should we let them have guns?” This was his answer when asked why the Soviets made gun ownership by regular citizens illegal.

    Yes, I do think that it is the good luck of rulers that men do not think. The question is what language would you be speaking if it were not for thinking men, if you were speaking at all.

    Of course handguns are designed to kill. What use woud they be if they weren’t?

  30. Common Sense 11/07/2009, 09:42

    Ok – it’s official. I don’t want to hear any more whining about these mass shootings. One today, where I live in Orlando, 8 shot – and of course the day before at the army base in Fort Hood.

    You Second Amendment folk get what you pay for. Stop saying stupid things like “Oh my god – how could this ever happen?” and ”What can we do to make sure this NEVER happens again” blah blah… just deal with it because it’s here to stay. It’s a consequence of the way you have set your society up so take it on the chin as collateral damage – because that’s exactly what it is. So long as you can buy and own guns like candy, mass shootings are a fact of life. Let’s all just accept it – or repeal the second amendment and start living like a civilized society – as the rest of the first world seems to be doing.

  31. CS said: “or repeal the second amendment and start living like a civilized society – as the rest of the first world seems to be doing.”

    You mean “civilized” societies like North Korea, Cuba, China, and Sudan?

    Isn’t it funny how when gun grabbers talk about all the “civilized” nations that have largely abolished private firearm ownership, they forget to include the nations with the most brutal governments that have the worst human rights records in the world?

    If the gun grabbers were honest enough to acknowledge that their list of “civilized” societies that have private gun owernership bans includes those nations mentioned above, I think most people would question just what their interpretation of “civilized” truly means.

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