Gun myths and legends
The Second Amendment was never written to support armed rebellion
Is an extremist myth keeping U.S. policymakers from agreeing on reasonable gun safety measures that could help to reduce the seemingly endless bloodletting in America?
That was the proposition laid out by U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin during a standing room-only presentation last week in Ely.
Raskin, who taught constitutional law for 25 years prior to his election to Congress, was challenging what’s known as the “insurrectionist theory” of the Second Amendment, a view which Raskin describes as National Rifle Association “dogma.” According to Raskin, it’s a view that has consistently undermined efforts to protect the public from high-powered weaponry in the hands of extremists or the mentally ill, despite the overwhelming public support for common sense laws such as mandatory background checks and red flag provisions.