The Second Amendment

Gun rights advocates are fond of accusing gun control advocates of blatant disregard for the Constitution.

This exact claim is not often discussed on the national news, and I think it should be. In fact, I think someone should create a court case that can be brought before the Supreme Court.

The 2nd Amendment begins, “A well-regulated militia...”

Obviously, all these mentally unstable gun owners do not constitute “a well-regulated militia.”  The framers were VERY CLEAR that gun ownership, and the TYPE of guns available, must be well-regulated.  

This point should be clarified for all time. I do not believe the NRA’s interpretation of it is defensible.

Retired SCOTUS justice John Paul Stevens says the Second Amendment should be repealed.

I actually don't mind the Second Amendment, to some extent. I don't think that it implies that anybody can own and even carry any weapon at all without regulation. Even at the time it was written, there were limitations on what weapons a person could carry. Bearing in mind the vast changes in the power of weaponry over time, it is obviously sensible to impose strict regulations on the purchase, storage and use of modern weapons and ammunition. That doesn't disregard the constitution, it just adds on some sanity.

The other point gun rights advocates always make is that gun laws only affect law-abiding citizens. Criminals will still obtain and use firearms criminally.

My response to that is to amend the laws involving firearms:

• Brandishing a firearm = automatic 20 years
  
• Using a firearm during the commission of a crime = automatic life
  
• Being caught with an unregistered firearm = automatic life
  
• Owning an unlawful firearm = automatic life
  
• Discharging a firearm anyplace other than an approved gun range or on legal hunt = 20 years
  

Stricter laws will not prevent criminal firearms use, but it would but it down immediately and within a generation things would be substantially safer.

Exceptions would be limited to active duty law enforcement and military active duty & reserve, i.e. citizens with formalized gun safety training.