WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment to allow for significant gun control legislation.
The 97-year-old Stevens says in an essay on The New York Times website that repeal would weaken the National Rifle Association’s ability to “block constructive gun control legislation.”
Stevens was on the losing end of a 2008 ruling in which the high court held that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own a gun for self-defense. He had previously called for changing the Second Amendment to permit gun control.
Stevens says the decision in that case, District of Columbia v. Heller, “has provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power.” Stevens retired from the court in 2010, after more than 35 years.
Ah, without the 2nd Amendment, the NRA ceases to exist.
But how am I to retrieve my runaway slaves if I can’t rally my well-regulated militia to fetch them? What? Slavery’s been abolished? The reason for the second amendment to exist has been obviated? Why oh why did I loan Lindsey the fainting couch and clutching pearls this week?
While I agree with Stevens’ conclusion that the 2nd should be repealed, I’m less certain about his reading of history.
I would argue that it had much more to do with giving the new nation a way to deal with internal rebellion (Shay’s, Whiskey), and to repel foreign invaders (1812, e.g.). There was no national standing army, and little thought of creating one, so it’s difficult to imagine that fear of that then-mythical beast is what created the call for the 2nd.
The Framers were the national government. Did they want to make sure they could be gunned down by an angry State militia?
Wow. ‘Repeal’ of the 2nd Amendment…conservative heads will explode…3…2…1.
The Second Amendment is a root cause of the sickness that has spread to every corner of this nation. It is an outdated, archaic construct that outlived its usefulness the moment the nation instituted a strong federalist system.