Further reasons for our national gun crisis lie in the areas of interpretation and defects in political structure. Let's start with misinterpretations of the Second Amendment.

At its core, the Second Amendment simply states that citizens have the right to keep and bear arms and provides for the existence of WELL-REGULATED militias. It does not say “the right to keep and bear ANY or ALL arms. That would be totally irresponsible, the Supreme Court has already upheld the right of Congress to pass legislation restricting citizens’ right to keep any kind of arms, and it is already illegal for a person to keep machine guns, mortars, love grenades, tanks, and other weapons. As far as bearing arms, it is entirely unreasonable to assume that those who wrote the Second Amendment meant that a person could take arms with him or her any place they wanted to and in any and all situations. It is equally unreasonable to believe that those forefathers intended our towns and cities to be a “wild west” with everyone walking our streets “toting” guns. That would create an unsafe society with the constant threat of violence and intimidation. Beyond that, it is entirely unreasonable that the founders could even imagine automatic and semi-automatic guns and their effect, or the need for limiting those.

As far as for “providing for well-regulated militias” it is equally easy to discern what the founders did and did not intend. It is absurd that the amendment allowed for militias to be established and operated which seek to overthrow local, state, and/or national governments operating within the framework of their constitutional authorities. It is more than likely that the founders intended those militias to be established by and governed by the states In any case, if they did intend to provide for private militias, it is equally reasonable that state and federal authorities would have to approve the charters and governing documents of such private militias, as well as their plans, actions, and accumulation and use of arms. The problem is that today, we have dangerous private militias across the country with NO regulation whatsoever.

Finally, no less a figure than former Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger said that current interpretations of the Second Amendment being pushed by the NRA, libertarian groups and many Republican politicians are nothing more than fraud. Berger was a Republican. Enough said.