Many people misinterpret the 2nd amendment. It’s not about preserving my ability to hunt for food. And, it’s not about preserving my right to protect me from you (though that’s an added benefit). The 2nd amendment is about preserving our right to protect us from a corrupt government.
I’m going to pause a bit and explain something. The letters “AR” in “AR-15” do NOT stand for “assault rifle”. AR stands for “ArmaLite Rifle”. ArmaLite was the original manufacturer of the weapon. Anyone who tells you that “AR” stands for “assault rifle” is either uninformed or stupid, and you should ignore anything further they have to say on the subject. Tell them I said so.
Back to my point. The founding fathers were concerned that a tyrannical government would use the military against its citizens. Remember seeing the tens of thousands of troops and military-grade fencing that were and are “protecting” Washington? Yeah, it’s sort of like that.
See, they knew that since the government controls the military, it can easily turn that power and might against its own people. Governments had done that many times in the past and they knew that it could happen here too, unless they did something about it.
So, the 2nd amendment made it unlawful for the government to disarm We the People.
And then technology happened.
You’ve all heard the argument that the Founding Fathers never could have imagined today’s modern weaponry. People have said that, the 2nd amendment can’t possibly apply to “assault rifles” because that’s simply too much firepower to have in the hands of anyone outside the military.
Their argument is that if George, Ben and the boys had been able to see the future, the 2nd amendment may have been written differently, or not at all. I agree.
But, the sword cuts both ways (pun intended).
Let’s face it. If the U.S. Government decided to use our own military against us, it wouldn’t even be a fight. Even with an estimated 400 million weapons in the hands of civilians, the military would literally (and I use the word correctly) roll over the top of us.
Although about 20 million of those 400 million weapons might be “assault rifles”, we wouldn’t stand a chance against tanks, drones, Hellfire missiles, electronic surveillance and the hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of other high-tech gadgetry most of us can’t even dream about.
I agree that if the Founding Fathers had known what the future would bring, they would have written the 2nd amendment differently. They would have wanted to make sure that the Government wasn’t so powerful that the citizens couldn’t possibly push back. So, let’s make a change. Let’s make sure that We the People have at least a chance of protecting ourselves from a power-hungry government, should the need arise.
I propose that we add a 28th amendment that goes something like this:
“The right of the people to keep and bear Arms comparable in capabilities to those possessed by the State shall not be infringed.”
In plain English, every weapon available to the State, should also be available to The People.
I believe that this is most likely what the Founding Fathers intended. Because if we ever do get to a point where we need to protect ourselves from a corrupt and tyrannical government, I’m sure George, Ben and the boys would want it to be a fair fight.
