The Second Amendment , Brief Reflection – 4 October 2017

Many, if not most Americans treat their constitutional ‘right to bear arms’ as a fundamental aspect of their identity. This right is to be found in the second amendment of the US Constitution, which 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.”

The US Supreme Court has interpreted this amendment as a continuing right to own, carry and use guns. Some States have imposed significant restrictions on the types of guns or on the registration of gun owners. States like Nevada, on the other hand, have very liberal laws permitting the purchase and ownership of many high calibre automatic guns capable of killing and injuring many people in a short time.
So, how is the US Constitution amended?

Article V of the Constitution requires that an amendment must be proposed by a constitution convention requested by two-thirds of State legislatures, or by a two-thirds majority of each House of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate. For the amendment to become part of the constitution, the proposal must be ratified by three-quarters of State legislatures. The American constitution has been amended twenty seven times. On every occasion the amendment was proposed by Congress.

The second amendment was one of the first ten amendments (known together as the Bill of Rights) which became part of the Constitution in 1791 – fifteen years after the Declaration of Independence was ratified, and only three years after the Constitution of the USA was ratified. When considered in the light of the recently fought war of independence and the frontier lifestyle of many US inhabitants at the time, the second amendment is quite understandable. That this amendment would justify the current ownership of 88 guns per every 100 Americans (as opposed to 15 guns per 100 Australians) baffles an increasing number of Americans and the rest of the world.

The US gun lobby is extremely strong. It portrays gun ownership as an act of patriotism, God given, or as essential to protecting your family against increasing violence. They don’t appear to see the fundamental flaw in their argument that the only way to fight gun violence is through the purchase of more guns for self defence. In view of the numbers affected by the recent shootings in Las Vegas, American legislatures may well move to restrict the sale of guns, but very few Americans will be brave enough to call for the revocation of the second amendment, as this would ensure a response more ferocious than a proposal to ban Australian Rules Football and Rugby League in Australia.

The revocation of an amendment has a famous precedent. The prohibition of alcohol was enshrined in the US Constitution by the 18th Amendment in 1919 and revoked by the 21st Amendment in 1933. The controversial nature of the 1933 revocation proposal caused it to be the only proposal ever ratified by state conventions rather than by state legislatures. Apparently politicians aren’t that brave.

While a mass killing provokes some public outcry, I note that over the weekend a further 50 people were shot dead in Chicago alone. The mythology of the self reliant American who is able to defend his or her home and family against those (including the government) who are intent on doing them harm, is very entrenched and wide-spread. Consequently, the 2nd Amendment  is unlikely to be revoked.

Let’s hope that tighter gun laws are introduced and that more Americans come to realise that prayer and the acquisition of more guns will do nothing. Perhaps, most importantly lets hope that somehow Americans will also begin to understand that the second amendment, while a part of their history, should be revoked as soon as possible.