US must appeal Second Amendment in order to achieve gun control, urges ex-Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens
In 2008, then-Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens was on the losing end of a ruling that said the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own a gun for self-defence
Retired US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment to allow for significant gun control legislation.
The 97-year-old Stevens said in an essay in The New York Times on Tuesday that a repeal would weaken the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) ability to “block constructive gun control legislation.”
In his essay, Stevens wrote about the “March for Our Lives” events on Saturday which drew crowds in cities across the country.
He said the demonstrations “reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimise the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society.”
He said the support “is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semi-automatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms.”