Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has called for the repeal of the Second Amendment, saying it “would make our schoolchildren safer” and “honour the memories of the many, indeed far too many, victims of recent gun violence”.
In an op-ed in the New York Times, the 97 year-old argued that the amendment had been warped by gun lobbying groups such as the National Rifle Association to extend beyond its original intent.
He pointed out that the amendment was adopted out of “concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states”.
“Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century,” said the former justice, a Republican, even though he is widely considered to have been on the liberal side of the high court at the time of his retirement in 2010.
Mr Stevens was on the losing end of a 2008 ruling in which the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to own a gun for self-defence.
In his op-ed, Mr Stevens wrote that a constitutional amendment “to get rid of” the Second Amendment “would do more to weaken the NRA's ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option.”
His comments were largely in response to the March for Our Lives demonstrations over the weekend that called members of Congress to pass stricter gun control laws.
The protests were led by students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the high school in Parkland, Florida where a shooter last month killed 17 people.
“Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday,” Mr Stevens wrote. “These demonstrations demand our respect.”
But he said they should seek more effective and lasting reform. The demonstrators currently are demanding a prohibition on civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, an increase in the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21, and comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms.
Stoneman Douglas student Cameron Kasky, one of the leaders of the March for Our Lives, posted a link to Mr Stevens’ op-ed on Twitter, saying it was “very interesting considering who wrote it”, but “I don't feel the same way”.
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