The 2nd Amendment has outlived its purpose in RI. Here's why. | Opinion
Joseph H. Crowley is past president of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals.
Our forefathers wrote the U.S. Constitution in 1787. The Bill of Rights was ratified by a number of states in 1791. The Second Amendment to the Constitution included the wording, “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.” At the time, a well regulated Militia was essential since England, Spain and France had designs on colonizing portions of North America.
Over the next decades, American citizens had wars with each. However, America did not build up a mass military force until World War I. In 1933, Congress amended the National Defense Act with the creation of the National Guard of the United States, a separate reserve component of the Army — essentially a militia of citizen soldiers.
With the establishment of a standing Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force and a National Guard, the need for armed citizens to protect this country from foreign enemies had long passed. The need for the Second Amendment went with it.
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Why are Americans armed to the level they currently are? It served the political needs of some who fed on the fear mongering the National Rifle Association promoted to build its dues-paying membership. Ironically, the vast wealth built by the NRA’s expanded membership was allegedly stolen by its executives.
And what of the mantra of the gun lobby that guns make one safer? In 2019, guns killed over 37,000 Americans. Guns became the leading cause of death for children. Compare America to Canada, a country with no issue with hunters and target shooters. The U.S. has 8.7 times more people than Canada, but 42 times more gun deaths. Canada has roughly two gun deaths per 100,000 citizens. The U.S. has roughly five times that rate.
Using the Second Amendment for reasons far beyond what our forefathers intended, Americans have turned the country into a world leader in gun deaths. Instead of being a protection for our country and Constitution, as we saw on January 6, gun owners are creating the potential to destroy both.
Are we helpless to bring the gun massacres to an end? In 1996, after a number of mass shootings, Australia passed legislation banning among other things automatic and pump-action rifles and shotguns. Since that time, there have been no mass shootings. The number of homicide and suicide firearm deaths are down dramatically. The death rate per 100,000 citizens in Australia is half that of Canada, and about one-tenth the rate in the U.S.
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Does the U.S. need to stand out as one of the gun-death leaders in the world? No. With sensible, logical legislation to control certain types of weapons, those seeking revenge will not have the capacity to kill large numbers of people in very small amounts of time; will not have the capacity to shoot children with bullets that make them unrecognizable to their parents. Police officers responding to a report of a shooting will not have to confront a shooter with equal or superior firepower to their own.
The amendment banning alcohol caused tens of thousands deaths from drinking tainted liquor. It was suggested bootlegging created the rise in organized crime. The Prohibition amendment was a failure. It was repealed.
The Second Amendment has long outlived its purpose. It, too, should be repealed.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The need for armed citizens to protect this country from foreign enemies had long passed.
