WW:
I've always felt the Second Amendment could not be interpreted. Here's the text of a letter I wrote to several newspapers a couple of years ago, none of hwich chose to publish it.
>
> The first seven words of our Constituion are "We the People of the United
> States." We the people should decide this issue once and for all through the
> political process. Since we do not have the capacity to present this or any
> other issue directly to the people for a national referendum, I propose the
> following amendment to the Constitution.
>
> It preserves the right to bear arms in defense of our country and the
> individual states, reserves to the individual states the power to regulate
> the ownership of arms, and specifically grants to Congress the right to
> regulate or prohibit interstate shipments or importation of arms and
> ammunition. It also requires that the amendment be ratified by state
> Conventions rather than by the legislatures of the individual states. This
> is the closest we can come under our system of government to a national
> referendum on gun control.
>
> We have a national election coming up in less than eight months. We the
> people need to ask of the candidates running this fall whether they support
> this proposed amendment and we the people need to vote accordingly. We the
> people need to make our voices heard.
>
> Proposed amendment:
>
> Section 1. The second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United
> States is hereby repealed.
>
> Section 2. A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of the
> United States, the right to bear arms in defense of the United States or of
> the several States shall not be infringed.
>
> Section 3. The power to regulate keeping of arms by individual residents is
> reserved exclusively to the States respectively, except that Congress may
> prohibit or regulate the interstate transportation of arms and ammunition and
> may prohibit or regulate the importation of arms and ammunition into the
> United States.
>
> Section 4. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
> ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by Conventions of three-fourths
> of the several States within fifteen years from the date of its submission to
> the States by the Congress.
If the conventions of the states vote this up, it becomes aprt of the Constitution, otherwise it ends up where the ERA amendment is, in the trash barrel. But at least we will have as close as we can get to the will of the people.
TEd
