Strive for balance on the Second Amendment
A writer in a recent letter claims the Second Amendment to our Constitution was written to shield us from tyranny. Not so. Let me quote the original. It’s short enough. “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.”
This amendment is not meant to shield us from tyranny. It is meant to shield us from insurrection, yet that is precisely what the writer’s fellow arms bearers attempted in our nation’s capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, an insurrection to install a petty tyrant, who persists in working a totally barren claim that “the election was stolen.”
Insurrection is not the only damage free-wheeling gun owners inflict. There is also the incursion, as most recently was experienced in Uvalde, Texas, on the right to life of innocent young children. Should these children’s self-evident, unwritten right to live be subordinate to a killer’s artificial absolute right to own a gun? Surely we must strive for some balance in this area.
The evidence on the ground is that this amendment is poorly drafted. It does not serve its purpose well. If Congress cannot find a way to patch its flaws, it may prove necessary for our safety and security to repeal it.
Michael Goldeen
Carson City
