The Second Amendment is outdated

The massacre of 20 school children and six staff in Newtown, Conn., along with the death of the killer's mother and his own suicide, strikes all of us.

It is time to address the gun culture that the United States has allowed to fester under the guidance of the National Rifle Association.

Recall the Second Amendment: “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.”

Now 179 years ago, Supreme Court Justice Judge Joseph Story, for whom Story County is named, wrote the most comprehensive study of our Constitution ever. Paraphrasing him: We have the Second Amendment because we do not have a standing army. We can't afford a standing army and don't want to give our government the chance to oppress the people, so we allow people to have their own arms. However, because individuals do not want to be subject to military discipline, the right to bear arms could lead to a contempt for order and thus undermine the intent of the Bill of Rights.

We now have a huge and well-equipped military, national guard, state troopers, local police. The Second Amendment is outdated. We must move to control the weapons capable of mass killings - semi-automatic handguns and rifles - through limiting their manufacture and sale. We can begin with a recall of these weapons.

Jeremy Brigham

Cedar Rapids