Posted on 11/30/2007 6:31:14 AM PST by rface
Written in an age in which minutemen rose to dress and fight at a moment’s notice, the Second Amendment was no doubt motivated by a young nation’s concern for its own safety and stability. But now, when the United States is protected by the most powerful security forces on the globe, the Second Amendment is neither relevant nor useful. Rather, it has become an impediment to vital public policy, and it should be repealed and replaced with nuanced federal legislation.
Despite the controversy surrounding the Second Amendment, arguments about its relevancy have not surfaced in the Supreme Court since 1939, when the justices merely touched upon the issue in United States v. Miller. But early this month, the Supreme Court agreed to take on the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the central consideration is the right of an individual to own a firearm as protected under the Second Amendment. The case specifically addresses private handgun ownership in the District of Columbia. But while legalistic arguments—the phrasing of the amendment itself and the framers’ intent—will be at the center of the debate, no matter what the justices ultimately decide, we believe that a constitutional protection of an individual right to bear arms is detrimental to the country. Instead, the Second Amendment should be replaced with federal statues designed to tightly regulate gun ownership.
The high level of violence in the United States as compared to other developed countries, if not directly related to the culture of gun ownership and distribution, is at least a strong argument that the Second Amendment is preventing aggressive federal gun regulation. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2005, 68 percent of the 14,860 homicides in the United States were gun-related. Given the pervasiveness of gun violence that occurs in this country every year, this sort of uneven gun control is unacceptable, especially when it comes to handguns. Unlike rifles and shotguns, a handgun has little use in hunting: It is a military and police weapon, built expressly to kill another human being. Yet little is done to prevent its distribution: In Virginia, any person over the age of 18 can buy a handgun, and if a handgun is purchased at a gun show, there is no background check required.
Supporters of a constitutionally enshrined individual right to bear arms argue that state gun control laws have “reinterpreted” the right to gun ownership. These limitations on gun ownership, they say, demonstrate that gun ownership itself is not linked to increased violence. But in the wake of the expiration of the Federal Assault Weapon Ban in 2004, gun control remains relatively lax in many states, especially when it comes to handguns, which are responsible for many, if not most, gun-related murders. Gun advocates claim the need for handguns in self-defense, but such considerations are moot when weighed against the number of lives that might be saved by making the weapons illegal.
In the context of today’s society, the Second Amendment is outdated. Constitutional debates over its interpretation stand in the way of the implementation of pressing public policy. Instead of wasting time attempting to fix this anachronism, we should repeal this amendment and focus our efforts on legislation that will actually protect the “security of a free state”—a charge explicit in the Second Amendment.
.
Capital letters were changed and an additional comma was added as the states concidered ratification:
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.
Thats what we need, trust fund babies at the Crimson telling us what our rights should be and include....(eyes rolling)
This is what passes for higher education today?
“In the context of today’s society, the Second Amendment is outdated. “
Hm, why didn’t the Russians invade the U.S.? What’s to stop a police state from forming if only the police and military have guns but the citizenry does not?
Any ask the “braintrusts” at Harvard that?
What a great irony that the Crimson Staff is only a few miles from where “the shot heard round the world” took place, when the Britich Government Authority (Redcoats) marched to confiscate guns and ammunition from the citizens.
Where’s the barf alert?
Harvard is irrelevent.
This is where the debate should be, I think, because this argument implicitly acknowledges that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms.
Let’s start from that premise and have the debate. I’m fine with that, but once the issue is decided, it ought to be firmly settled, and for the foreseeable future. Both sides should accept that going in.
Once again.... just do a web search on the New England states constitutions. There’s nothing mentioned about hunting or target practice...it’s all about personal self defense. You get a very clear picture as to what those people meant when writing it.
They really don't get it. The 2nd Amendment is not about US citizens fighting off a Chinese invasion. Yes, we have the military for that task. The 2nd Amendment is so that we can fight our own government, when it gets out of hand.
These folks seem to think that the redcoats came over from a foreign country and tried to conquer us. It was the "most powerful security forces on the globe" -- our own military -- that we were fighting at Lexington and Concord. That's why we have the 2nd Amendment.
Ahhhh... the time tested lies and subtle bleating of the undergraduate pseudo-intellectual.
I think it’s interesting that people still hold to the “guns cause violence” mantra. The violence in Finland brought some light to the fact that there is roughly one firearm for every two people in the country, and they don’t have huge problems with violence. In the UK, where harsh gun control has been in place for a number of years, use of firearms in crimes is on the rise.
Go ahead and try to repeal it, jerks. I doubt you’ll get more than 3 or 4 state legislatures on board.
But we all know that what you’ll really try to do is “judicially” repeal it by the interpretation of elitist judges.
Interesting to see that this is the standard of historical scholarship among Harvard undergrads now.
The Second Amendment was written in the post-Minutemen period for a Constitution that already contemplated a United States that would maintain a standing army with a central command structure and a Congress fully empowered to levy as many taxes as required to fund and equip it.
The historical context of the 2A's composition obviously gives the lie to the Crimson's cheap and uninformed analysis, and recourse to the records of the ratifying conventions demonstrates that the right to bear arms was not advocated as a national security measure, but as a security for the rights of the citizenry.
Idiots.
well it’s also about fighting the illegals, something the federal govt doesn’t want to do
As long as the Second Amendment is considered outdated, we may as well toss all the other ones out the window, too.
Don't laugh, folks . . . it's pretty astonishing how many people right here on FreeRepublic are openly supporting a presidential candidate with a pathological hostility to at least four of the ten amendments in the original Bill of Rights.
I guess they don’t teach history at Harvard anymore, with all the focus being on LGBT Issues Studies now, or the author of this anti-american tripe would have known that the first thing the Nazis did when Hitler came to power was confiscate all the guns from the citizens so they couldn’t take back their country from the Dictatorship.
harvard is a treasonous hell hole and should be burned to the ground.
False premise of both sides being morally equal.
They are not.
It's cute when pseudo-radicals preach to the choir.
“This is what passes for higher education today?”
Indeed. And yet we have even stalwart conservatives like Ann Coulter fully subscribed to the view that graduates from Ivy League schools somehow represent the best and brightest among us.
Me? For leadership of the country, I’d take my chances with Sam Drucker, the corner grocer over ANY “elite” school graduate.
LOL. It wasn't because of the 2nd Amendment. Let's not be ridiculous. It undermines legitimate support for the 2nd Amendment.
I have a hunch that few, if any, on the Crimson staff ever even held a gun or shot one. To say a handgun has very little use in hunting says it all about their ignorance.
I actually like this approach. It’s honest.
I would rather everybody fight to repal the 2A than to ignore it and pass laws that violate it’s commandment not to be infringed.
Of course, I’m realistic and don’t believe it can be repealed. If these people thought the ERA was tough, wait till they try this.
Whenever the word ‘nuanced’ is used by liberals, look around to see where liberty is being screwed over.
Now hear this: the point of the Second Amendment is so that you never have in the United States an armed government and an unarmed populace.
Remember Tiannemen Square.
We, the People, are in control here. We the People have a superior right to bear arms to any right the government has.
If the government has a right to bear arms, it is only because we, the People, have granted it. that grant in no way abrogates the right of we, the People, to bear arms.
Don’t they have a history department there? What happened on April 19, 1775?
Actually it’s well documented that our enemies have admitted that private gun ownership was a huge detraction to invasion. It is a legitimate argument, given the militia angle.
In the context of today’s society, the First Amendment is outdated.
Those who forget history, are doomed to repeat it.
These people spouting such hopelessly idiotic drivel are either insane, stupid, or just plain evil.
That’s why its called the “Crimson”. A Red newspaper if there ever was one.
“In the context of today’s society, the First Amendment is outdated.”
The Liberals believe it is.
The First Amendment? Holy, holy, holy! We need to allow pornography in the publicly-funded libraries, we need to give students in high school the same rights as real adults, we need to be sure that the Nazi's can march through Jewish neighborhoods, we need to silence Christian "hate-speech" when they disapprove of homosexuals, we need to let people burn the flag, all in the name of the sacred, holy, never-to-be-touched First Amendment. Thank the nonspecific Deity who may or may not exist that the Founders (a female-inclusive term) were smart enough, brave enough, wise enough and dedicated enough to plan ahead to this very day so that we can apply their sacred wisdom to protect these vital rights that every human being deserves!
Second Amendment? Ahh, shoot...it's the Constitution's appendix. Cut it out and throw it away.
The Harvard Crimson is correct in so far as if they don’t like the 2nd Amendment, then a Repeal is the only way to get rid of what they don’t like.
Just like the 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st ...a new Amendment would be required. NOT 5 out of 9 imperial justices decided that the living Constitution permits changes on a whim.
But the Harvard Crimson should be careful with its reasoning. The right to free speech and free press might also be subjected to similar intrepretations. Our founding fathers didn’t foresee fully automatic high-speed printing presses, therefore governmental restraints of anything higher tech than what existed in the late 1700’s would be reasonable. Our founding fathers permitted free speech, but they obviously knew and permitted the soap box to stand on. But they certainly wouldn’t have envisioned the electronic megaphone, speakers, radios, etc., such that millions of people could hear some possibly incorrect message at the same time - therefore some government restraints would now be permissible. (And there could be some justification providied. The press - both paper and radio and TV, mismanaged the Rodney King affair. The press kept referring to a fleeing criminal as a motorist. When the 4 policement were found not guilty, the level of hype from the media was what inflamed the crowds in LA, leading to riots that resulted in almost 1 billion dollars of damage and almost 50 deaths. Certainly prior restraint and government approval of the products of the press to ensure a fair and balanced story would be more reasonable than the reliance on an obsolete First Amendment.
So the Harvard Crimson should be careful what it seeks!!
Mike
What preserves the 1st Amendment?
I’m sure a team of Harvard lawyers is so much smarter than our Founders (sarc)
Which is exactly why I and every other good citizen in this country should own one.
I am correcting myself—the government has no rights at all—we, the People, have armed the government.
Harvard—I sure hope those lil ones grow up soon.
Nikita Kruschev’s Commie edict, “We will take you over without firing a shot.”.
10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.
According to the Communist Manifesto, all these were prior conditions for a transition from capitalism to communism
I guess. The drugs seem to be much stronger now, and the hallucinations more removed from reality than ever.
I think they have crossed the threshhold from 'mind expansion' to mere diffusion.
All the guns in the world could not have ravaged this country as much as the whey-faced ivy league creeps we’ve allowed to run it.
(the Second Amendment is preventing aggressive federal gun regulation.)
Wow, nothing gets by those Harvard sharp people! That’s the whole point of the the right being mentioned in the Constitution, you morons! It’s like saying that the first amendment is preventing aggressive political correctness legislation...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.