To the editor:

This letter is in response to Daniel Dearborns letter of July 3. Mr. Dearborn states that the Second Amendment recognizes the unalienable right of the citizen to bear arms without limitation, exception, or exemption.

Really? That language does not appear in the Second Amendment but is simply Mr. Dearborns interpretation. It is ironic that later in his letter he does quote the exact language that reads, 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 does he ignore the language regarding a militia?

For the first 200 years of our republic, the prevailing attitude of the courts was that the Second Amendment was a collective right, belonging to state militias, as codified in United States v. Miller in 1939, and not an individual right.

It was not until 2008 in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the individual right to bear arms was upheld by the Supreme Court headed by Justice Roberts and passed by a conservative court by a 5-4 margin. However, even that conservative majority concluded the right to bear arms was not without limitation, contradicting Mr. Dearborn's assertion.

How did we get to this point regarding the intent of the Second Amendment? In the 1970s, special interests, including the NRA and other gun proponents, began to propagate the argument that the Second Amendment was an individual right.

Over time, these efforts have been successful in changing the views of the public, legislators and even judicial appointees. That these interests have been successful in reshaping the argument is regrettable.

In 1991, retired Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger (a conservative appointed by President Nixon) stated that the idea that the Second Amendment provided an individual right to bear arms is one of the greatest pieces of fraud I repeat the word fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

Amen, brother.

Things have only gotten worse since then. However, with a Biden victory in November, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court can, eventually, be overturned and sanity in the form of legitimate, sensible gun control laws, based on the original intent of the Second Amendment, with limitation, exception and exemption, can become a reality.

StevenBell

Amesbury

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LETTER: Different view of the Second Amendment - The Daily News of Newburyport