Second Amendment is an 18-century relic

For decades now, the gun lobby — with the complicity of conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court and in Congress — has been twisting the meaning of the Second Amendment to justify the gradual elimination of all gun regulation in the United States.

How often have we heard the gun lobby quote the second half of the amendment, which says “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”? But they never mention the first half of the amendment, which says, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state …” That phrase, “a well-regulated militia,” explains the reason for the Second Amendment. It was intended for military purposes, but that reason no longer exists. It is an archaic amendment from the 18th century.

We now live in the 21st century. We live in a country in which one man with a rifle equipped with a bump stock can wound or kill more than 500 people at a country music concert in Las Vegas in the short span of 10 minutes … and Congress does nothing.

We live in a country in which a young man who is mentally ill murders his mother at home, and then walks into an elementary school with a semi-automatic rifle and murders 20 first-graders … and Congress does nothing.

The time for “doing nothing” is over. The time for “thoughts and prayers” has ended. I don’t want to hear any more phony interpretations of the Second Amendment. Guns, and those who own them, need to be regulated. This is now a health and public safety issue. Anyone who argues otherwise is being disingenuous. We cannot call ourselves a civilized country if we fail to act.