What is the significance of the Second Amendment? What made its inclusion in the Bill of Rights so vital that the Founding Fathers made this the second-most important right, behind only the Freedom of Speech?
Many claim it’s to protect our nation from its enemies, both foreign and domestic. They assert that a well-armed populace is necessary in the event a foreign power attempts to invade the then-fledgling America. They also declare that such protection would prevent an over-zealous government from wielding too much authority.
But what if the intent was far more nefarious? What if the motivation behind the Second Amendment was not for defense, but actually to prevent the enslaved population of the South from staging their own revolution? After all, slaves represented one-third of the overall population in the South at the time the Constitution was ratified.
Historian Carol Anderson made such a claim after she researched the origins of the Second Amendment. Her research unearthed the Founding Father’s trepidation over the possibility of a slave revolt when such a calamity occurred in the Haitian Revolution, which saw Blacks seizing control of the island nation. This led to Southern slave owners demanding that the right to bear arms be enshrined in the Constitution along with other “inalienable rights”.
Such an interpretation is vehemently opposed by those who support a much broader definition of the Second Amendment. They claim it’s about individual freedom and the right to oppose governmental tyranny. Despite the words “well regulated” and “militia” being explicitly stated in the amendment, they oppose any restrictions on their manic desire for unlimited access to any type of firearms they covet. They will also state that their right is unconnected to belonging to any militia.
Once the Civil War had concluded, the defeated South found a new way to exercise their Second Amendment rights by intimidating former slaves as they terrorized them with heavily armed bands of vigilantes who wanted to prevent them from exercising their newfound freedom.
These acts were even romanticized by D. A. Griffin in his movie The Birth of a Nation. He depicted members of the Ku Klux Klan as heroic figures who used the Second Amendment to protect the virtue of innocent White women from marauding Blacks, who were viewed as using their liberation as a reason to rape and pillage what would otherwise be a helpless populace.
Such events became commonplace for the next hundred years. Segregation, red-lining and Jim Crow laws prevented Blacks from enjoying the same lifestyle as their White counterparts. In many, mostly Southern, states laws were enacted to restrict, or even prevent, Black ownership of firearms. This allowed the intimidation to continue.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s saw these restrictions erased, so gun owners had to come up with a new tactic.
Enter the NRA
The National Rifle Association was founded in 1871 by former Civil War General Ambrose Burnside. Burnside was dismayed by the lack of accuracy among soldiers and aimed to have an organization that would “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis”. His philosophy became so popular that it was opened to the civilian population as a means of promoting gun safety. Lessons were even taught in schools where students were encouraged to treat their firearms as just another school supply.
Following the social upheaval of the 1960s, the NRA morphed from promoting gun safety to being a political powerhouse aimed at what it viewed as the potential erosion of American society. Many viewed the changes as the beginning of a race war, so they demanded access to unlimited, and more powerful, firearms as a means of protection. Their paranoia was further fueled by the oft-repeated NRA propaganda that those on the left were “coming to get your guns”.
Members adopted the phrase Molon Labe, which roughly translates to “come and take it”. It is a dare to anyone who they believe wants to take away their Second Amendment rights. Then NRA President Charlton Heston echoed these sentiments at the 2000 NRA National Convention, when he held a replica of a Revolutionary War flintlock over his head as he declared they could take his rifle after they pried it from his “cold, dead hands”.
Would Heston have changed his stance had he been alive to witness the carnage inflicted on school children as a result of his boast? Since he held a flintlock, he’s unwittingly supporting the gun control stance that the Founding Fathers did not intend to protect such firearms like the AR-15, which has been the weapon of choice in many mass casualty shootings.
While the NRA remains focused on protecting the rights of “freedom-loving Americans”, it hasn’t totally abandoned its former role as a promoter of gun safety. Among the many guidelines it has issued is how to respond if you are pulled over for a traffic violation.
That apparently didn’t matter to Philando Castle, a Black man who was pulled over on a routine traffic stop. Upon being asked to produce his license and registration, he followed NRA guidelines by informing the officer that he had a loaded handgun, for which he was licensed, in the car. As he continued to reach for his license, as instructed, the officer shouted at him to not go for his gun. Castle and his girlfriend, who was present and live-streamed the encounter, stated that he was not. The officer fired seven shots, killing Castle. He was later acquitted of any wrongdoing.
This, and several other incidents re-enforce the contention that the motivation behind the Second Amendment is racially biased. Had it been a White man behind the wheel, the incident could have played out quite differently.
The Significance of the Second Amendment
No one will ever know the Founding Father’s true intent in adopting the Second Amendment. Unlike other constitutional amendments, its interpretation is open to debate. Was it in defense of individual liberties, or was there some darker, racially motivated reason for this?
Sadly, we will never know.