The recent massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., has created fear in schools and communities throughout our country. Disturbed by the murders, hundreds of thousands of mostly young protestors are demanding change. Proposals intended to solve or at least greatly reduce the deaths include providing firearms to trained teachers, posting armed police officers at schools, requiring mental evaluations for anyone wanting to purchase a firearm, raising the minimum age for purchasing a firearm and making rapid-firing weapons illegal. The proposals are many but the answer to “Is our right to possess firearms endangered?” can be answered in one word: No.
Our Constitution’s Second Amendment is brief: “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.”
While seemingly simple, it is subject to different interpretations. Examples: One firearm-owning individual cannot be “A well-regulated militia”; military-type training is required to be “well-regulated.” The National Rifle Association focuses on only a select portion of the Second Amendment, “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” ignoring the fact that today’s rapid-fire rifles bear scant resemblance to the muzzle-loading flintlocks of colonial times.
Recently, U.S. District Judge William Young ruled, “Assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are not protected by the Second Amendment.” The NRA will almost certainly disagree. It knows little will be done to restrict firearm ownership, but will probably declare catastrophe is imminent and issue a “Call to arms” to all true patriots. All the association’s “Doomsday” letters conclude with a plea to join the NRA and send money, revealing the true purpose of the letters.
Moving on to the various proposals:
• Arming firearm-trained teachers – Although already adopted
