"'They will search that paper [the Constitution],' Henry said, 'and see if they have power of manumission. And have they not, sir? Have they not power to provide for the general defence and welfare? May they not think that these call for the abolition of slavery?
"'May they not pronounce all slaves free, and will they not be warranted by that power? This is no ambiguous implication or logical deduction. The paper speaks to the point: they have the power in clear, unequivocal terms, and will clearly and certainly exercise it. This [slavery] is a local matter, and I can see no propriety in subjecting it to Congress.'"
To satisfy Henry, James Madison changed the word "country" to the word "state," a change Patrick Henry demanded to make it explicitly clear that the Constitution protected the state militia (aka slave patrol) in Virginia.
The big picture here isn't a pretty one: The Second Amendment, which is now used by the weapons industry to justify selling weapons of war to civilians, was originally created, at least in part, to help preserve slavery in the South. You really couldn't ask for a better metaphor for everything that's challenging about America and its history.
But here's the thing: we don't need to be trapped by that history.
Ever since it was ratified, Americans have repeatedly changed parts of the Constitution that don't match up with the times. We've changed electoral rules so that the person who comes in second place in a presidential race no longer becomes vice president, we've given women the right to vote; we've given black people full citizenship; we made alcohol illegal, and then re-amended the Constitution to make it legal. These are just a few examples of ways in which we've broken with our past and moved toward a better future.
It's time we did the same with the Second Amendment.
At its best, the Second Amendment is an anachronism that's no longer relevant in an era in which the United States has a standing army but remains a democracy. At its worst, it's a tool for slave-owners that's now being used by the weapons industry to prevent any and all sensible gun laws.
There's only one way out of this mess: it's time to repeal the Second Amendment.
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