Restore 2nd Amendment to original meaning
Given the cold facts on the number of Americans killed by guns every day in their own communities, we need to listen to Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.
For more than 200 years, federal judges have, according to Stevens, uniformly understood the Second Amendment to be limited in two ways. One, that it applies only for military purposes, and two, that, while it limited the power of the federal government, it did not limit the power of state or local governments to regulate ownership or use of firearms.
But the Roberts Court has twice ruled against governments trying to tamp down gun violence. In 2008, a 5-4 majority, citing the Second Amendment, added a new Constitutional right for a civilian in D.C. to keep an enabled handgun at home for self-defense. And in 2010, the same 5-4 court threw out a Chicago handgun ban, and extended the court’s newly-created constitutional right to the states.
To restore the Second Amendment to its original meaning, and to return the power of regulating firearms to state and local governments, Stevens suggests adding five words to the Second Amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the Militia, shall not be infringed.
Mary Ross, Cambria
This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Restore 2nd Amendment to original meaning."