I'm grateful for these wise and sobering words from Christopher Duggan, a friend who, by profession, has a much deeper and more informed understanding of the Constitution than most of us who are reading this post:
It is an abomination that a few people think that America is condemned forever to accept mass shootings without being able to adopt sensible legislation to at least try to minimize the slaughter of children and other innocent people. Those who rely on the Second Amendment to come to this conclusion conveniently ignore the seven purposes that the Constitution was drafted and ratified. They are set forth right at the beginning and no amendment or statute contradicts the seven purposes of the American foundation (1) form a more perfect Union: (2) establish justice; (3) ensure domestic tranquility; (4) provide for the common defense: (5) promote the general welfare; (6) insure the blessings of liberty; (7) to ourselves AND our posterity (the kids who are being executed in a genocide). Sensible firearms legislation can be adopted that will further each one of these 7 objectives. The argument that we must accept mass slaughter of our children to put unlimited revenue in the hands of gun manufacturers undermines each and every one of these 7 goals. Until Heller in 2008, no one thought that sensible gun legislation was unconstitutional (the 2nd Amendment then was known as "the forgotten amendment") and there is no reason, none, that parents and grandparents should have to live without their children because of some false reading of the text, history and structure of our fundamental law.
