Civic Register
| 3.27.18

Former Supreme Court Justice: ‘Repeal the Second Amendment’, Trump: 'Never'

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UPDATED - March 3, 2018: President Donald Trump vowed the Second Amendment would "never be repealed," a day after retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for just that.

This marks the first statement on guns or gun-control by the president after the massive March For Our Lives protests on March 24.

Read Countable's original story below.

What’s the story?

  • Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is calling for a repeal of the Second Amendment.

  • In an op-ed published in the New York Times on Tuesday, the 97-year-old Stevens – a lifelong Republican - argues that the right to bear arms is outdated and misinterpreted:

"Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment…is a relic of the 18th century."

Why does it matter?

  • Stevens wrote that those who have been advocating for stricter gun control legislation – like the participants in the March For Our Lives – should move towards pressing lawmakers for the removal of the Second Amendment.

"That simple but dramatic action would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform. It would eliminate the only legal rule that protects sellers of firearms in the United States—unlike every other market in the world. It would make our schoolchildren safer than they have been since 2008 and honor the memories of the many, indeed far too many, victims of recent gun violence."

  • The former justice referenced his dissent in the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, which ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own a gun for self-defense within their home. "That decision…has provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power," Stevens wrote.

What do you think?

Should gun-control advocates press lawmakers to repeal the Second Amendment? Would that lead to "more effective and more lasting reform"? Is the right to bear arms “a relic of the 18th century”? Hit Take Action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

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