Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Second Amendment myths soon could harm Florida
State Rep. Randy Fine isn’t just dangerous when commenting on the Second Amendment. He’s dangerously wrong.
After the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, the Brevard County Republican tweeted, “I have news for the embarrassment that claims to be our President — try to take our guns and you’ll learn why the Second Amendment was written in the first place.”
Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, called Fine’s tweet “abominable.” That’s being kind.
It’s what Fine does. He is to the Legislature what a shock jock is to radio. He referred to a Brevard school member who crossed him as a “whore.” He called gender-affirming health care “child abuse.”
In this case, however, Fine promulgated one of the Second Amendment myths at the core of Republican opposition to firearm safety. Those myths soon could wipe out Florida’s response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting.
The first myth is that the authors of the Constitution wrote the Second Amendment to ensure that civilians could own guns free from government regulation. Credible historians dispute that claim.
Joseph J. Ellis has written 11 books about the nation’s founding and fathers. One earned the Pulitzer Prize.
In an article for American Heritage, Ellis agreed with Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote, “Neither the text of the Amendment nor the arguments advanced by its proponents evidenced the slightest interest in limiting any
legislature’s authority to regulate private civilian uses of firearms. Specifically, there is no indication that the Framers of the Amendment intended to enshrine the common-law right of self-defense in the Constitution.”
The second myth is that, nearly two-and-a-half centuries since ratification of the Constitution, the nation still needs a civilian militia. As such, the government cannot prevent adults from owning whatever weapons they want.
Attorneys for the National Rifle Association invoked this myth in March before a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The NRA challenged Florida’s 2018 ban on the sale of military-style rifles to most people under 21.
“Since the dawn of our republic,” NRA attorney John Sweeney said, “18-year-olds have been called upon to take arms in defense of our country.” Two Trump-appointed judges in California evoked such images to strike down a similar ban in California.
Perhaps the NRA missed it, but we now have a “well-regulated” militia — the National Guard. Above it are the U.S. military and the reserves. Those are the young people — the actual patriots — taking up arms in defense of the country.
Decades of resistance by the NRA and its sympathizers — we’re looking at you, Marco
Rubio — have created another class of under-21 Americans who took up arms made for the
battlefield. The killers at Uvalde, Buffalo, Sandy Hook and Parkland are among them.
The third myth came from Fine: “People need to understand the history of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment was created to protect people from an overarching government.”
Actually, the Second Amendment was created because the Founders opposed a standing army like the one the new nation had just defeated. As historians have noted, the Founders saw a militia as the only defense against outside (emphasis mine) forces.
Perhaps Fine had read this quote from Thomas Jefferson: “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
The quote supports Fine’s position. But even historians at Jefferson’s home of Monticello told The Atlantic magazine in 2011 that they could find no record of it.
Americans make up roughly four percent of the world’s population but own nearly half of all firearms in private hands. Our firearm death rate is thus an outlier among developed countries. It’s eight times higher than Canada’s, the next closest.
Robb Elementary is the latest, most visible evidence of this preventable scourge. Last weekend, there were 12 more mass shootings nationwide.
Memorial Day this year was not just for fallen soldiers. It was for all the Americans who have died because of Second Amendment myths.