The Second Amendment

When was this amendment determined to be the law of the land?  On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, was adopted, having been ratified by three-fourths of the states and passed by Congress September 25, 1789. The President, at the time, was George Washington.

There were thirteen states in 1790, so that means 10 states ratified this amendment – a significant segment of the original 13 colonies. Based on the 1790 US Census we had a total of 3,929,214 citizens (about the population of San Diego County), or about 4.5 people per square mile at the time. Many of these people fought for the freedom of our country in the Revolutionary War, which ended in 1783. So, it is understandable that the founding fathers decided that they must allow citizen defense. We had no choice. By the way- none of these arms were assault rifles, I believe what is called the Flintlock was a pretty sophisticated weapon at the time. It took some time to load and shoot, however. The rifle, in it’s original form, wasn’t even invented until the mid 1800s – and even it wasn’t automatic.

Anyway, fast forward to the 2010 census. The US population is 100 times what it was in 1790 – over 310 million people.

Knowing what we know today, i.e., that it is possible to kill hundreds of people in seconds with one rifle, ask yourself one simple question:

Would 3/4 of the 50 states, or about 38 states, ratify the 2nd amendment?

Probably not.