Repeal the 2nd Amendment

The reason I feel so passionately against guns is that it is completely incompatible with my Christian faith.

Gun is a symbol of fear and hostility.

About 85 times in the Bible, we are told “be not afraid” or “fear not.” Bible enthusiasts think that number is much higher — about 366 times — where we are instructed not to be afraid in the world. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the basic tenet of Christianity and all religions.

I don’t remember Jesus asking his listeners to deny themselves, take up their guns and follow him.

There are more guns in this country than people. Imagine the negative energy emanating from the pervasive presence of instruments of hostility, death and destruction. Think of the intense pain and suffering caused by each mass shooting for individuals, families and communities.

How do we pray for peace and healing while packing heat under our belt or sleeping with a gun tucked under our pillow?

When will the national malaise of gun violence reach a tipping point that will force the hands of legislators to think differently about guns? Our levels of gun violence is off the chart. No responsible society should put up with it. Allowing citizens to buy semi-automatic weapons and 100 bullet drum magazines without having a background check is horribly insane. I guess we are politically dumb and nationally numb to see the degeneration brought about by this avoidable violent epidemic.

As the Declaration of Independence states

All experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

A mere 337 men and women of the US Congress — two third majority — and two third of the state governors could vote to repeal the Second Amendment from the Constitution. The sky won’t fall, the earth won’t stop spinning on its axis and we will be less violent and much more peaceful as a nation.

As individuals, can we make a pledge that there is no cause out there that we are willing to kill for, and that includes our life?

Those who think that repealing an amendment from the Constitution is anathema are either ignorant of history or don’t know the meaning of the word amendment. An amendment by its very definition is a revision or correction that was added to a document.

There are 27 amendments to the US Constitution added during a period of 200 years, the first being freedom of religion and speech (1791) and the last one regarding congressional salary (1992).

The 18th amendment which prohibited use of alcohol (1919) was repealed by the 21st amendment in 1933. During a brief period of 14 years of prohibition the law-makers changed their mind! May be they realized that a little alcohol was good for their spirits! (pun intended).

This shows that if we really want to change something, we can. It is unfortunate that the high level of national violence, the thirty thousand plus gun deaths a year, the grieving hearts of the Sandy Hook parents and the innocent faces of the Sandy Hook children, don’t tug the hearts of law-makers enough to change their minds on the Second Amendment.

We should never forget the fact that we are living beings inhabiting a moving planet, having a tentative existence imbued with impermanence. Such a life requires — in fact demands — revisions, reform, revival and sometimes repeal.

As long as we are living, nothing should be written on stone. Stone-writing belongs in graveyards.

Those who insist that documents that govern our lives are written on stones and thus unchangeable may be physically alive but spiritually dead.