We need to repeal the Second Amendment. It no longer serves the purpose for which it was enacted.
After the Supreme Court's 2008 ruling in District of Columbia et al. vs. Heller, which ignored 200 years of precedent, overturned the district's handgun ban, any sensible restrictions on firearms are vulnerable to constitutional challenge.
I cringe when I read letters to the editor and blog posts where people present the history and purpose of the amendment straight out of the gun lobby's talking points.
The Second Amendment is about militias. Read it for yourself: "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."
Our Founding Fathers were distrusting of standing armies. They feared our young republic could easily be dissolved by a military coup d'etat, as had so many other governments. In a professional army, soldiers owe their first allegiance to their commanders, not the government. We see this playing out all over the world.
Their solution to "the security of a free state" was "a well regulated militia." They envisioned a force of farmers and tradesmen who could be called up in the event of invasion. We still have state militias, only we now call them the National Guard, and they don't take their firearms home.
By the time of the Civil War, the Second Amendment was already obsolete. Mass-produced firearms were held in armories (John Brown's target at Harper's Ferry) for the use of militias. The farmer with a musket over the mantle was out of date.
Repeal of the Second Amendment would not mean ownership of firearms would become illegal. It would not mean confiscation. But it would allow our lawmakers to pass reasonable restrictions on firearms to protect us all without fear of having the will of the people overturned by the Supreme Court.
J. MICHAEL MALEC
Albany