Hi, my name is Erik and recently there has been a huge debate over what gun control is needed to solve the obvious violence problem that we have within this country. And one big change we need to make is a shift in understanding of what the Second Amendment currently means for the citizens of this country.
The Second Amendment currently reads,
“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.”
These words, while meaning a lot back in the time of muskets and bayonets, holds absolutely no weight now. That is because the look of a militia has changed vastly.
A bunch of guys holding assault rifles and wearing homemade armor may look threatening walking down your main streets, but who is their enemy?
To think that a ragtag group of gun enthusiasts could take on the government’s military is simply nonsense. That militia isn’t going to be a true adversary because the military is a billion-dollar organization that has heat-seeking missiles, drones and hundreds of skilled and trained personnel led by masterful organization.
The U.S. military looks vastly different today than when the Second Amendment was originally written. This fact is one reason a lot of people want a second look at the Second Amendment.
What does it mean now? Well, if you are someone who believes that vast background checks are needed for assault rifles, or the thought of an egomaniac with a gun scares you as much as the thought of a psychopath with a gun, then that means controlling the military.
Oddly enough our military isn’t really run by us. We don’t decide when we go to war. The last time we did was Dec. 8, 1941, right after Pearl Harbor. To be clear, it was our representatives of our state, Congress, who declared war, but it is a lot better than how the government controls war situations now.
Presidents decide now when to go to war, not us. Sometimes presidents, who didn’t even win the popular vote, have the power to declare war on just about any nation, for any reason, at any time. So help me God, that is terrifying.
So please Constitutionalists, understand that a militia of gun owners isn’t as practical as it was in 1776, and the meaning has changed vastly in the past two hundred plus years. Our voice, however, and the same spirit of the Second Amendment should still carry on.
For decades, corruption and special interest have contributed to billions of dollars of waste through wars like Iraq and other major military action in the Middle East.
How much money would we have been able to invest in our country if the people had the final say in military action? Instead, the government is allowed to make billion-dollar mistakes. As times change, we must realize that giving people assault rifles isn’t for a well-regulated militia, but rather for sport, or in some truly awful cases, used for mass murder.