Should Second Amendment be repealed?

“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

Did anyone ever imagine that a retired justice of the U.S. Supreme Court would one day advocate for the repeal of one of the 10 provisions in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution?

Yet in the wake of shootings and deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, it has come to that: After students and others protested throughout the nation to demand restrictions on firearms, retired Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that protesters should go further and seek to repeal the Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms.

Stevens’ proposal spurred criticism from gun-rights supporters, and even some advocates of more gun restrictions, who agreed that the retired justice was going too far. But some pundits congratulated him for taking a principled, bold stand.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Should the Second Amendment be repealed? What’s realistic?

Two passionate leaders butt heads in today’s debate:

Howard L. Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, argues against the repeal of the Second Amendment.

The Rev. Matt Malone, a Jesuit priest and the editor in chief of America, which describes itself as a Catholic review of faith and culture, lays out his magazine’s reasons for repealing the Second Amendment.