Repeal the Second Amendment: A Case for a Safer America

In this deeply researched polemic, American University history professor Lichtman (The Case for Impeachment) argues that the Second Amendment has been “hijacked” by the National Rifle Association and “can and must” be repealed in order to solve America’s gun violence problem. Lichtman chronicles the gun lobby’s decades-long campaign, culminating in the Supreme Court’s 2008 D.C. v. Heller decision, to redefine the amendment’s “collective” right to bear arms as an “individual” and “virtually unlimited” right, and debunks claims that private gun ownership leads to less crime, that firearms are effective for self-defense, and that gun control measures don’t reduce gun violence. A repeal amendment would need to be proposed by two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress and ratified by three-quarters of the states—a “difficult” task, Lichtman writes, but one that has been achieved before, with the end of Prohibition in 1933. The campaign to repeal the 18th Amendment, according to Lichtman, created a road map gun control advocates can follow by organizing “single-issue group[s]” dedicated to repeal and recruiting former gun rights advocates to join the cause, among other tactics. Lichtman’s damning portrait of the NRA persuades, but his “path to repeal” feels vague and overly optimistic. However, this call to action will resonate with gun control advocates. (Jan.)