Get real about the 2nd amendment.

Congressman Burgess wrote to me, “I am strongly opposed to any limitations on the United States Constitution's Second Amendment rights.” Sorry, wrong answer. Thomas Jefferson wrote that laws need to change as circumstances change. The preamble to the constitution reads, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty…” The second amendment was written before the modern bullet was invented. That is, the destructive power of a personal weapon was very limited. Personal possession of guns hardly constituted a threat to domestic tranquility. The 2nd amendment was written after a revolutionary war and times ahead were uncertain. The nation might have more battles to fight. The need to react in a timely manner was seen as essential. The amendment was written when most of the country was a vast wilderness and a weapon would be an essential survival tool. Today we are not at war, we no longer are a wilderness, and modern weapons are vastly more deadly than weapons of the revolutionary era. It’s time to take the second amendment off of its lofty pedestal and be realistic about what kinds of and how many guns a person needs. With so many mass shootings the past few years, we fear sending our children to school, or going to the mall, or visiting a house of worship. We live in fear of becoming a victim of gun violence. Clearly the 2nd amendment is no longer contributing to our domestic tranquility, our national defense or the general welfare. Today, with over 300 million guns in circulation, including many semi-automatic weapons, we have weapons that the drafters of the constitution could never possibly imagine. Our domestic tranquility and general welfare is being destroyed by the misguided interpretation 2nd amendment.