I'm not really a confiscate-all-guns kinda person. Gun-crime and gun-violence and gun-suicide and accidental shootings are serious problems, but in no way an existential threat to American society. We can well afford to tolerate a large number of firearms in private hands, and we can well afford to lose a large number of people shot dead every year; society will keep ticking along regardless. I have no brief for any particular gun-control regime. It is a highly complex issue, to which expert studies are relevant, but elements of local political culture are also relevant. What works in New York might not work in Colorado. Any system of gun control should be carefully worked out by legislatures in a process involving studies and hearings and testimony, by legislators who know they are answerable to voters who might place a very high value on their personal firearms.
But that should be a political process, not a legal one. The right to bear arms is not important enough to be set above and beyond the reach of ordinary electoral and legislative politics by constitutional protection. The Second Amendment was always a bad idea and should be repealed.
But that should be a political process, not a legal one. The right to bear arms is not important enough to be set above and beyond the reach of ordinary electoral and legislative politics by constitutional protection. The Second Amendment was always a bad idea and should be repealed.
