The Second Amendment should be repealed, according to Texas professor Mary Margaret Penrose . The Texas A&M School of Law professor has now joined the ranks of other some progressives and gun control activists who deem the Constitution and outdated, antiquated document.
Professor Penrose made her Second Amendment comments not at Texas A&M but at a panel discussion at the University of Connecticut. The academic stated she feels the right to bear arms, as written, is largely misunderstood. Connecticut Governor Daniel Malloy delivered the opening remarks at the gun control symposium organized by the Connecticut Law Review. After the governor signed an extremely restrictive gun control law in April, Colt firearms announced they would be leaving the state – and taking their jobs and tax revenue with them.
An excerpt from Professor Mary Penrose’s Second Amendment speech:
Unfortunately, drastic times require drastic measures. I think the Second Amendment is misunderstood and I think it’s time today, in our drastic measures, to repeal and replace that Second Amendment. The beauty of a ‘states’ rights model’ solution is it allows those of you who want to live in a state with strong restrictions to do so and those who want to live in a state with very loose restrictions to do so.
During the panel discussion in Connecticut the Texas professor asked for a show hands to indicate how many audience members felt that gun control laws had been successful – all arms remained at rest. Mary Penrose then stated that she agreed about the lack of reduced gun violence and stated that during drastic times, “drastic measures” are necessary. Repealing and replacing the Second Amendment qualified as an “unfortunate” yet necessary drastic response in the professor’s mind.
Professor Penrose deemed herself “somewhat agnostic about guns” but said she is extremely passionate” about the Constitution – but in a negative light. During the University of Connecticut speech, Professor Penrose also admitted that she tells of Constitutional Law course students that both the Bill of Rights and Constitution are “obsolete.”
Penrose also shared this thought with the audience:
Why do we keep such an allegiance to a Constitution that was driven by 18th Century concerns? How many of you recognize that the main concern of the 18th century was a standing army? That’s what motivated the Second Amendment — fear of a standing army.”
The reasons that both the Founding Fathers and the American people cherish and vow to protect the Second Amendment are many. While concerns about a standing army may number among them, “fear” is certainly not the only reason the right to bear arms was included in the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson had this to say about the Second Amendment:
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.
James Madison said that disarming the people is the “best and most effective way to enslave them.” George Washington stated that free people ought to be armed. Ben Franklin may have put it best when detailing how important it is for Americans to understand and retain our liberties, “They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
How do you feel about the Second Amendment and Constitution remarks made by Texas A&M University Professor Mary Penrose?
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