The Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights reads, exactly…

“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.”

One more time…

“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.”

 

In the everyday tragedies of American gun violence, those that support unabridged gun rights and gun access are quick to sympathize with communities in mourning, but still very committed to their version of the Second Amendment, which somehow always seems to leave out the critical parts, noted in the above.

But those words are a part of the Second Amendment too.  The founding fathers engaged in careful debate about the Second Amendment, and the ending document is a result of that measured debate.  The idea of firearms use needing to be well-regulated, and that arms have certain necessary, but limited purposes is part of the Second Amendment for a reason.

The Declaration of Independence, on the other hand, lists a set of unalienable rights which have proven central to the development of the United States.  It is the access to these rights which have allowed for the advancement of this nation towards the ideals of inclusion and equality for all.  It is access to these rights which made the Bill of Rights  possible…

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

As “the Governed” who among us has consented that the right to bear arms is more important than the rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?  And if that hasn’t happened, when will ‘We The People’ recognize our current form of governance has become destructive, and seek to alter and / or abolish it.  Unfettered gun rights, that do not even honor the actual Second Amendment, is not the government that Americans want.  A Congress which works more to appease a minority of rich donors and groups, chief among them the NRA, than it does to make laws to improve OUR rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is not the government that Americans want.

So with that in mind, I’ve started a petition.  It’s time that those elected to represent US actually start doing it.  And if they cannot, it’s time for them to go.

As citizens of the United States of America, we are tired of having our Rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness taken away by those who would seek to abuse the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms.  They are not part of a well regulated militia, and instead of using firearms to protect their home, their property or the nation, they use them to violate the unalienable Rights of other innocents citizens.  This is unacceptable.  

We demand that Congress do its job to protect the Unalienable Rights of Americans.

We demand that Congress put the American People FIRST ahead their reelection campaigns.  

We demand common sense solutions to the horrors of violent, domestic terrorism. 

 

If you agree, please sign via Change.org.