2nd Amendment wording change is warranted

Many Americans have angrily insisted that government needs to reduce the carnage stemming from gun violence. Those opposed often point to the Second Amendment, especially as it was interpreted by the Supreme Court in the past decade as protecting gun rights of all individuals, rather than of state militias as it was interpreted over its first 200 years.

One initial step toward enacting changes in laws to limit gun violence is to free up state and local governments to pass those laws without risk of being struck down by the Supreme Court. Those laws could be based on the needs and views of those states and communities. Rural areas with many hunters and little gun violence might want to loosen restrictions on gun ownership, while urban areas with few hunters but much gun violence may want tighter controls.

The best way to allow this state and local control over gun access is to follow the recommendation of retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (who was nominated by a Republican president). In his 2014 book “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution,” he implied that the Supreme Court now ignores the first half of the Second Amendment. His solution to make it “unambiguously conform to the original intent of its draftsmen” is to amend it by adding five words, so that it would read: “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.” As so amended, it would resume its original meaning as an amendment that does not limit the power of state or local governments to regulate firearms. KEN PERKINS Squirrel Hill propaganda. The corrupt, devious, self-serving political elite of Capitol Hill and their minions betray the American people, violating the Constitution and destroying the republic for personal and corporate aggrandizement.

If Hollywood and Washington aren’t turned into pillars of salt, then God owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.

So “take heed that no man deceive you.” Guard against the viral contagion of a false reality that continuously streams through your screens and break free from the bondage of a toxic social media. Instead, seek the Good News, for only the truth can make you free. STEVEN CRICHLEY

South Side Slopes

Gun advocates claim that it is deranged people and not guns that cause carnage. But other countries (Britain, France, Japan, Norway, Germany, etc.) have about the same proportion of deranged people as we do but many fewer mass shootings. The difference is that these and essentially all developed nations have much more restrictive and sensible gun laws than we do. It’s as simple as that.

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Thank God for people who get out and protest in favor of sensible gun legislation. But while this may have some positive results on a local level, there is only one way to make real progress on gun legislation: Vote the Republicans out in the midterms. The gun manufacturers (whose only interest is to sell more guns and ammunition) have the National Rifle Association in their pocket, and the NRA has the Republican Congress in its pocket. MARVIN FIELDS

Oakland