Call for a Common-Sense Constitution

It is past time for a rallying cry from the American people for a “common-sense” Constitution.

The horrific tragedy at Uvaldi this week has once again brought the Second Amendment to the forefront of American discourse. Here is the Second Amendment word for word.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Why hasn’t Congress amended this amendment to make it less vague and more specific to modern life? Because certain members of Congress have been bought by the Gun Lobby.

I propose four points for the “rallying cry”:

1. Reverse Citizens United and limit campaign contributions to a maximum of $1,000 per citizen and no corporate contributions

2. Dispel Constitutional Originalism

3. Make weapons of mass destruction unlawful to manufacture and unlawful to own privately

4. Automatic rifles like the AK-15 were not manufactured until 2016

Pertinent background information

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning the relationship between campaign finance and free speech. It was argued in 2009 and decided in 2010. The court held that the free speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations, including nonprofit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.

Originalism is a concept demanding that all judicial decisions be based on the meaning of the US Constitution at the time it was adopted. Originalists contend that the Constitution should be interpreted strictly according to how it would have been understood by the Framers.

In the American Revolution, the principle battle longarm was the Brown Bess musket. A musket is different from a rifle because it has no rifling, so the bullet doesn’t spin. The Brown Bess is .75 caliber, which is essentially an 11 gauge smoothbore shotgun, used to fire, historically, a cast .69 caliber lead ball weighing just over once ounce. The range on a Brown Bess is a couple hundred yards, but because the ball isn’t spinning, the musket wasn’t used as an aimed weapon past 20 yards or so.

The AK-15 is a new Russian assault rifle. It was developed under the Ratnik future infantrymen programme. This weapon was first publicly revealed in 2016. This weapon is fed from 30-round capacity magazines. It is compatible with the standard 30-round magazines, of AK-103 and AKM, as well as 40-round box and 75-round drum magazines of the RPK light machine gun. The AK-15 has a cyclic rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, which is 50 rounds faster than that of the AK-74M.

In conclusion, enough is enough. While we still live in a republic governed by the people, it is time for us to make our opinions known. My rallying cry is stated above.

CPW