A living document (#2499)

Our mighty American constitution is just the floor from which we grow from. it was a declaration of intent based upon the time it was written. 226 years later most of our constitution has evolved with our nation's enlightenment and modernization. There is still work to do concerning the intent of some amendments as they now apply to our modernization. I will use the second amendment as an example. Back in 1789 when we first assembled our constitution the times then dictated a national defense network based upon the ability of individuals to protect home and state from outside aggression. The need was clear since no national or state standing armies were practically formed. So the need for people to bear arms was not only important for our defenses but it also allowed our people to hunt for food. Flash forward to today and you can see that although in the past arms were used to consolidate and feed our country while building armies and state militias, the need is no longer required. We have state and local policing services to uphold laws that protect life and property. We have the strongest national army on the face of the Earth and as far as needing arms for food, that is also moot since we have grocery stores everywhere in our country that fill that void in supplying all the food we can afford. So the argument today that we need the second amendment because it is necessary for national and individual defense or hunting food is not a valid argument. What has happened instead is conservatism has taken the second amendment and applied it mostly with no regulation. So we have almost anyone who wants a weapon able to secure one. With all the mass shootings we have currently, we can see that this is the wrong approach. A valid argument can be made that the intent of the second amendment has been fulfilled thus making the second amendment clause pertaining to bearing of arms by the people, moot. It is time to move beyond what was needed over two hundred years ago to a more common sense intent of what is needed today.