In the hours following the mind numbing shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School there was a lot of activity on Facebook. I posted this status – “Brett Sterenson will not be able to digest ANY posts/rants about the 2nd Amendment. I will be hiding you. Your arguments will never have any impact on me EVER. Ever.” It was immediately met with folks beginning their argument. I hid them.
The right to bear arms is the most grossly misapplied Constitutional establishment. It was written at a time when this nascent nation had no organized military. Generations later, this nation has the world’s largest and most organized military along with countless local and regional police forces. In the District of Columbia alone, there must be a dozen police forces with differing and overlapping jurisdictions. Nevertheless, the need for individual citizens to arm themselves as militia is non-existent. The 2nd Amendment has been warped to mean that folks have the right to defend their homes. And about five years ago, even the Supreme Court allowed for this bent. Nevertheless, unless we believe our homes might be invaded by Poland one of these days, there is no justification for possessing anything other than the most basic but useful handgun. Assault rifles have no practical use outside of armed forces and should only be possessed by those who use them for their work.
Those who view the Constitution as the end-all be-all on this topic must also not be aware of how the Constitution has been amended over the years. The 2nd Amendment was written at a time when a majority of lawmakers also deemed it right to own black slaves, and at a time when women were treated as second class citizens with no right to vote. We are comfortable admitting that these were mistakes and we corrected them by writing additional amendments. As the time changes, so to does our need to stick to antiquated laws. For me, any rationalization of the 2nd Amendment as having use today falls on my deaf ears – the same ears with which I’d hear someone’s case that slavery should still be legal. So there.