To: The New York State House, The New York State Senate, Governor Andrew Cuomo, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Petition to repeal the Second Amendment
The time has come to repeal the Second Amendment. We the people can only amend our Constitution via a 2/3 vote in both chambers of Congress, or by a constitutional convention called by 2/3 of the states. As an American, I call on Congress to act. As a New Yorker, I call on New York to lead the way and begin the constitutional convention process. The Second Amendment has no place in today's society, and the time has come for its repeal.
Why is this important?
The Second Amendment is indefensible policy for today's day and age. Guns have advanced far beyond what our founding fathers could have ever predicted. We do not Constitutionally protect the right to a whole host of tools that have significantly more utility than guns do. There is no Constitutional right to own a car. There is no Constitutional right to own housing. There is no Constitutional right to healthcare. Yet, somehow, we have a Constitutional right to bear arms, to bear tools such as the AR-15 which have proven themselves to serve one purpose: efficient and indefensible murder of our fellow Americans.
To those who say we need the Second Amendment so that we have the ability to overthrow a tyrannical government: in over 200 years we have never once overthrown even a local government, let alone the federal government, nor could even a well-armed populace hope to defeat the American military should it ever choose to turn itself against the citizens it has sworn to protect - even an AR-15 stands up poorly to a Tomahawk missile or M1 Abrams tank. In the event that the military does not turn its back on us and helps us overthrow a hypothetical tyrant, then our people have no need to own multiple high powered weapons of their own. In neither scenario is it useful for our populace to have a Constitutional right to bear arms in order to overthrow a tyrannical government.
To those who say we need the Second Amendment to protect our right to defend ourselves, or to hunt for sustenance: the right to own guns for sport or for self-defense does not need to be Constitutionally protected such that common-sense regulations are impossible to pass. If we do not feel the need to Constitutionally protect our right to own cars, to own housing, or to benefit from healthcare, then we cannot justify in good faith the need to Constitutionally protect our right to own tools which are used nearly exclusively to murder our fellow countrymen. A society that makes guns harder to obtain means that guns are less necessary for self-defense - just ask Australia, or Japan. We can enjoy shooting ranges and license reasonable firearms for hunting without Constitutionally protecting guns such that common-sense gun regulation is impossible to pass. Repealing the Second Amendment does not mean the elimination of gun use in this country, it simply means the right to bear arms will no longer make it impossible to protect our children from the multiple school shootings they endure each and every month these days.
We currently stand as one of three countries (along with Mexico and Guatemala) with a constitutional right to bear arms. It is time to leave that exclusive group, pass common-sense gun regulation, and make our country safer for everyone herein.