The NRA has paid the Republican Party to lie about the second amendment for 42 years. The gun lobby has a single purpose; to increase the profits of gun manufacturers and gun sellers. They will say or do anything to accomplish their goals.

The NRA would like you to believe that the second amendment guarantees the right of all Americans to own any type of killing machine they choose. This is far from the truth. Most Americans have never read the Bill of Rights, so let me place it here for you.

“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.”

First of all understand that a ‘Milita,’ and a ‘Standing Military’ are not one and the same.

Militia: “a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.”

Others include:“A military force that engages in rebel or terrorist activities, typically in opposition to a regular army.”“All able-bodied civilians eligible by law for military service.”

Our founding fathers were opposed to a ‘standing army.’ They did believe that the ability to almost instantaneously form an army composed of all able bodied men who possessed rifles was paramount to the saftey of their nation. Both rifles and pistols were ‘muskets’ in 1789. They were single shot weapons.

Although there is an obvious inclusion of the intent to protect our nation from foreign invaders and from a military coupe, in 1789 there existed another reason and a slightly different meaning of a ‘militia.’

After the American Revolution in 1776, the number of slaves grew dramatically in states which supported ownership of other human beings. By the year of the Constitutional Convention, 1789, several uprisings by this growing population had occurred. When our founding fathers began to create the Bill of Rights, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and George Mason insisted on protection for militias already present in the south, which began with the ‘Georgia Militia’ in 1755. To protect themselves from the much larger number of slaves, and the possibility of ever increasing numbers of revolutions against their owners, they demanded that every male white member of a family who owned slaves be armed, and conduct regular inspections of the living quarters of slaves to prevent future uprisings.

Here’s where it gets a little tricky. Right wing hypocrites who are financially supported by the NRA gun lobby, will lie to you and claim that the second amendment protects the rights of Americans to own military assault rifles. Regardless of which position you take, here is the bottom line. The safety of the great majority far outweighs the ‘rights’ of civilians to own military weapons. More importantly the majority of all Americans believe that these weapons of mass destruction must be banned. We, the people are the country, not the politicians who fail us in Washington.

We have a standing army today. The idea that a ‘well armed militia;’ even one equipped with military rifles; could be assembled to defeat our well-trained and well-equipped military is ludicrous. They would be crushed in days by the weapons possessed by today’s military. Tanks with the ability to destroy entire cities within just days cannot be defeated by any weapon available to a civilian. Powerful aircraft could destroy a city in hours. Missiles, fired from miles away would slaughter thousands in just minutes. Therefore, one of the primary premises of the second amendment is no longer valid.

It is time for a serious discussion. Led by high school students from Florida who were victims of the latest mass shooting with an assault rifle, something will be done. We will no longer be conned by the NRA gun lobby and the party the own.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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