Author: Buckeye Firearms Association

Perhaps we were too harsh on textbook publishers last week for botching the proper interpretation of the Second Amendment, as even those in charge of the official website of a body sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” apparently can’t be expected to get it right. The official website of the United States Senate features a “Virtual Reference Desk” section on the Constitution which offers an explanation of the Second Amendment that reads, “Whether this provision protects the individual’s right to own firearms or whether it deals only with the collective right of the people to arm and maintain a militia has long been debated.” The passage downplays the individual right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment and gives undue credence to an interpretation of the amendment long-held in disrepute and rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 and 2010.

While there remain a handful of radical anti-gun advocates who bitterly cling to the incorrect “collective” and “sophisticated collective” right interpretations of the Second Amendment, no debate is apparent in the platforms of the two major political parties, who, along with two independents, populate the upper house. The 2012 party platform of the Democratic majority states, “We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans’ Second Amendment right to own and use firearms.” The 2012 Republican platform states, “We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a right which antedated the Constitution and was solemnly confirmed by the Second Amendment.”