Retired Supreme Court John Paul Stevens said that it is time to repeal the Second Amendment in an op-ed for the New York Times. Stevens applauded the protesters who took to the streets in cities around the world on March 25th to demand politicians enact gun control laws to help end the epidemic of gun violence in the country. But, the 97-year-old justice believes that the reforms they are fighting for are not enough, and the only way to solve the problem is by a complete repeal of Second Amendment.
“That simple but dramatic action would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform,” Stevens said. “It would eliminate the only legal rule that protects sellers of firearms in the United States — unlike every other market in the world.”
He called the amendment a "relic of the 18th century" that was enacted because the Founding Fathers were worried that "a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states."
He argued that the 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which affirmed an individual's right to bear arms, upended decades of legal precedent and "provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power."
Stevens said that the only way to undo that decision was "via a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Second Amendment."
While a full repeal of the Second Amendment seems unlikely, the federal government has made some progress in passing gun control legislation. The omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last week had some provisions on gun control, including one to fix the background check system.
Stevens was nominated to the high court in 1975 by Republican president Gerald Ford. He retired from the court in 2010. Stevens was considered a moderate judge with conservative leanings early in his career but he usually sided with the liberal justices on the Supreme Court.
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