Eight years after the Revolutionary War, the Bill of Rights became a part of the American Constitution. Among those rights is the awkwardly worded Second Amendment. It begins, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,” and concludes with the holy scripture of gun enthusiasts: “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
The Second Amendment should be read and understood in context. In 1791, the year of its adoption, the U.S. military barely existed, the flintlock rifle was the dreaded infantry weapon of the day, and everyone lived in fear of the warlike British. And so a citizens’ militia made sense. But things have changed. We now have thousands of trained police forces all over the country, we have the world’s strongest military, today’s rifles are deadly beyond belief, and practically no one is afraid of the British.
Guns are a fact of life in this country, but far too many people have far too many of them for no good reason. We need to do more — a lot more — to limit their availability. Otherwise these terrible school shootings and mass murders will never end.
