On guns, let’s take a note from the founders

Back in February, I wrote a column about the origins of the Second Amendment and got a couple of threats from out of state. One, mostly in capital letters, said in part, “YOU’LL CRY LIKE A LITTLE GIRL WHEN YOUR CIVIL WAR IS STARTED. THE POSSITIVE ( sic) THING IS AMERICA WILL PURGE YOU TRUE RACIST, BIGOTS ...”

The other said, “... if that’s what you want come on over and take your bullet” and so forth.

I didn’t think too much of them. The threats were somewhat indirect and, besides, I’d heard the Pirates had signed Melky Cabrera to a minor- league contract that same day. I had other things on my mind. But I forwarded the emails to my bosses, saying, “I wouldn’t want either of you to spend much time worrying about this, but ... I’d be happy knowing this loon was inconvenienced with questioning if anything happened to me.”

I was advised to notify the police. Long story short, one loon was inconvenienced. After a Pittsburgh police officer came to the office to speak with me, a state trooper notified me that CAPITAL LETTERS GUY had been contacted in North Carolina. I was told he’d said something like, “My wife keeps telling me I shouldn’t do this,” and he promised not to threaten anyone online again.

I’d hardly thought of it since. But after the mass murders in El Paso and Dayton, I read that

Mayor Bill Peduto had extended the hours of his security detail after he received multiple death threats. Mr. Peduto was in the crosshairs because he signed three largely symbolic gun- control bills into law in April. They banned the use of large- capacity magazines and the use of semi- automatic weapons in public places. A “red flag law” also would allow courts to seize the weapons of those who exhibit signs of extreme risk to themselves or others.

Even President Donald Trump, who agrees with Mr. Peduto at roughly the frequency of a solar eclipse, called for red flag laws in his national address Monday. The Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, did the same Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, Mr. Peduto met with Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. They said the U. S. Senate should pass a background check bill already passed by the House of Representatives. They also called for America’s Largest Full- Time State Legislature to change Pennsylvania law that forbids local firearms regulations like Pittsburgh’s.

Assuming any of these proposals advance, we’re going to hear guns- rights stalwarts quoting the Second Amendment ( though generally only the second part): “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 people who like to call themselves strict constructionists have somehow managed to convince a majority of legislators that an amendment beginning with the phrase “well regulated’’ forbids any meaningful regulation at all. That’s curious, but that’s also the side of the gun argument that’s been winning.

We should not forget that the comma- heavy amendment was a calculated rewrite. Anthony P. Picadio, a veteran Downtown lawyer, wrote in the Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly in January that the amendment began with the phrase “a well regulated Militia’’ in order to get crucial votes in support of the U. S. Constitution from Virginia. Patrick Henry had argued at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 that the Constitution, as then written, could keep states from suppressing a slave insurrection without congressional approval.

James Madison revised the Second Amendment to win over Mr. Henry. The revision tied the right to the militia, Mr. Picadio argued, because only white males in Virginia were required to join the force that was largely used to“prevent and put down slave uprisings.” Mr. Madison’s tweak ensured that guns would be kept out of the hands of free black Virginians ( of which there were thousands). There were nonetheless weeks of debate before Virginia ratified the U. S. Constitution, 89- 79.

Sharing the key points of Mr. Picadio’s 11- page argument was what prompted some to threaten me online. Those true believers skipped right past the part where Mr. Picadio made clear he was not anti- gun, and that it could be argued that the right to own a firearm for self- defense purposes may have pre- existed the Bill of Rights.

It also might be an uncomfortable irony for liberals that the opening for gun regulation has links to the efforts of slaveholders. But we should all stop pretending that our founding document came down from Mt. Sinai. Our Constitution was the result of arguments and compromises beyond measure. That ability to have a civil dialogue remains crucial, and there’s all too much evidence that we’re losing it.

Some did email me reasoned critiques of Mr. Picadio’s argument. Another guy simply suggested I perform a physically impossible act on myself. I thanked him for his eloquence, though I believe Patrick Henry would have phrased it better.