The gun problem in the U.S. stems from a basic misinterpretation of the second amendment of the Constitution which consists of only one sentence.
"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 second amendment was never meant to give people the right to own a gun to hold up the local 7-11 store or mass-shoot a school full of children. Before and during the Revolution, the British government forbade the colonists from having arms, so they were at a decided disadvantage during the Revolution until they acquired them by other means. Once America declared itself independent, citizens were given the right in the Constitution to "keep and bear arms" and to form militias to protect the new country against foreign powers.
The first part of the amendment is the condition that allows the right to "keep and bear arms". If the condition is removed, then that particular right becomes unnecessary. The well regulated militia in colonial times was made up of citizens, so they needed personal weapons to protect the young state (from Mexico, the French, and Canada which was still British). Now the militia is the professional armed services of America. Militias and personal arms are unnecessary to protect America against foreign powers.
America must give up its treasured "freedom" to own personal guns. This "freedom" is taking away the freedom of the average citizen to be without fear of death when going to school, going to a concert, going to church, going to synagogue, going to mosque, going to yoga class etc.
SCOTUS can be and is wrong in its interpretation of the second amendment in light of 40,000 annual gun deaths. America simply has to abandon its cherished "right" to own personal weapons or the slaughter will simply continue. It won't stop until the manufacture and sale of arms and ammunition ceases and existing arms are collected and destroyed.
It is clear that the second amendment allowed militias only to protect the U.S. from foreign powers, not from its own government. That's why they have elections and peaceful transfer of power. Militias formed to overthrow their own government are by definition insurrectionist and therefore illegal.
Donald A. Fraser
Prince George
