It's time to reassess the meaning of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.

In the wake of seemingly out-of-control gun violence in the US, it is time to reassess the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. The currently-promoted idea that the 2nd Amendment gives every American the 'right' to own whatever gun they wish is part of the problem of gun violence, and the end result is that we live in a country with nearly as many guns as people. This is neither logical nor responsible, on a social level. We must support alternative views of the 2nd Amendment, namely, that it was written to ensure that a local 'militia' was armed, so that an invading army (such as the British or Spanish or French) could be repelled. In light of the fact that a ground invasion of the US is essentially impossible (largely due to technological factors), the 2nd Amendment is now clearly an artifact of Revolutionary-era attitudes and philosophical ideas. These deeply-held attitudes about gun ownership, fostered and legalized by the 2nd Amendment, are killing us. We can and must do better for the safety of our country.