Not the BS, "let me take a few words out of this and proclaim it to be the 2nd Amendment." But the whole thing as written.
The gun nuts today are out in force with their faux "concern" about these poor, innocent children who endured ungodly terror and pain as they were slaughtered, and it is time to make clear: To hell with you people. We talk. NOW.
And the first thing to make clear is that we who want regulated guns support ALL of the 2nd Amendment.
The 2nd Amendment is, unfortunately, the worst written of the Bill of Rights -- in fact, it is almost incomprehensible. If submitted on a grammar test, it would be given an F:
"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."
Since it is not a sentence, we have to parse this. Words are intended to flow one to another. In other words, if I say, "I want to have dinner, let's have steak,'' I am saying I want to have steak for dinner.
Why does this matter? Look at the first three words: A WELL REGULATED militia. This is the ONLY part of the Constitution that mentions regulations. It doesn't say "free for all." It says well-regulated.
I understand the concept - as archaic as it now is -- that people needed to be able to be armed so that a citizen militia could fight back against invaders. So, if the gun nuts want the last part (right to bear arms shall not be infringed), it has to be in the context of the first. They are armed so they can be a militia. And they are a militia that MUST be well-regulated.
When we see the bodies of children, the bodies of seniors, of shoppers, of worshippers, of movie-goers, of members of congress...scattered everywhere, we do not have a well-regulated militia.
I know the SC has tried to separate these two concepts, but only through the terms of Common Law, not through the express words of the Amendment. The debate in the constitutiional convention was about the people having the power to confront an army -- an impossibility today unless they have the right to fighter jets and the like. Making it even more narrow, Robert Whitehill, a delegate from Pennsylvania, sought to clarify the draft Constitution with a bill of rights explicitly granting individuals the right to hunt on their own land in season. I dont think that is what they meant.
HOWEVER, whenever a gun nut throws the 2nd Amendment at us, I have my new chant: "Well-regulated? I AGREE!!!"