The Problem with the Second Amendment

The problem with the second Amendment is the court’s interpretation of the right.  In 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the justices held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep a gun in the home for self-defense. Two years later, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the court confirmed that the states – and not just the federal government – must respect that right.  The decision opened the door to the sale of assault rifles, the kind of which I personally used in the Vietnam War.  In a later ruling a conservative judge wrote: “Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. Good for both home and battle,” the judge said in his ruling’s introduction.   A Swiss army knife?  Really?  Just how often does one need to spray bullets across the landscape.   Since when does a shopping mall or a high school fall into the category of a battle ground.  Given the court’s overreaching interpretation of the Second Amendment, and their  Swiss Army Knife approach to gun use, we have no other option, but to rescind the amendment and institute saner gun laws.  

–Robert S. Thomas, Castro Valley