The Constitution, per our Founding Fathers' intent, is a living document, meant to reshape itself to fit the times and circumstances of modern culture. This is its very essence. It's why, although it took far too long, Constitutional underpinnings allowed us to right major national wrongs such as ending the institution of slavery even though slavery was legal when the document was ratified. The very nature of an "amendment" is that of a substantial redressing of the original document. By that definition, even the 2nd amendment (along with every other) was an addition or correction due to circumstantial evolution in our country. The Founding Fathers knew they were not infallible, and that future generations would have to continue to tinker with the mix according to shifts in modern culture.
Here are some statistics for you to chew on: In 2016 alone (per FBI official crime data), there were roughly 11,000 gun-related homicides in the United States. Between 1775–1783, the entire duration of the American Revolutionary War, American soldiers suffered just 8,000 combat-related deaths. More American soldiers died of illness during that war (17,000) than from lead balls fired from muskets. More Americans (58) died from weapons fired by Stephen Paddock as he fired into a Las Vegas concert crowd last year than American soldiers died at the hands of British soldiers during the entire Battle of Lexington and Concord (49).
The Founding Fathers could have never conceived of a weapon such as the AR-15, and it is equally inconceivable that they would imagine anything like it should ever be in the hands of civilians. The intent of the Constitution wasn't to set up the US as the neighborhood badass. It was about something else entirely, and it didn't take the Founders any amendments at all to establish the overarching context of the document—it's right there in the preamble: "Insure domestic tranquility."
Are you feeling very tranquil right now?
We're supposed to repeal amendments when they outlive their usefulness, or create unintended circumstances. In 1919 we passed an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the sale of alcohol. But the amendment gave rise to a storm of organized crime and violence, so by 1933 our lawmakers took a look at the big picture and saw fit to repeal the amendment. It happens. It's supposed to. It's the way our country is supposed to work.
The NRA and other right wing groups have spent a fortune perverting and contorting the 2nd amendment. Special interest lobbies are not supposed to hold sway over governmental policy, particularly when so many lives are being lost as a result.
Am I suggesting we ban guns? Not at all. I'm suggesting that, just like the repeal of the 18th amendment gave rise to the 21st amendment, that the 2nd amendment be repealed and restructured into a new 28th amendment that better reflects modern conditions in America, and addresses a very, very real problem.
Nobody should feel this is "un-American." It's literally what our Founding Fathers intended.
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