The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted along with the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791. The right to bear arms was based partially on the right to bear arms in English common-law and was envisioned as supporting the rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in defense of the state. In 1791 however, guns were slow to fire, single shot-style weapons. Modern firearms can kill hundreds in minutes. Crazy people can do more damage in seconds today than they could have ever personally inflicted in weeks of effort 200 years ago. Moreover concepts of human rights necessarily change over time in a civil society: the ideas of protected rights for women and children, people of color, disability, religion and sexual orientation continue to evolve today. If laws are to serve and support the ever-changing society they were drafted for, then common sense requires once widely accepted ideas to be open for judicial review.
Since the majority of Americans seem to understand and want evolution in the area of intelligent gun control, and their captured congress seems unable to serve them, then a review and revision of the second amendment makes abundant sense. See: The Second Amendment might need some revisions for some intelligent discussion.
;
