Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says young activists like the survivors of the Parkland, Florida school shooting should demand for the Second Amendment to be repealed.
Stevens, who wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Tuesday, called the inclusion of the Second Amendment in the Constitution a “relic of the 18th century.”
“Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that ‘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,'” he wrote. “Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.”
Stevens said a repeal of the Second Amendment would achieve “more effective and more lasting reform,” than other gun control efforts such as raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm, creating more comprehensive background checks, or prohibiting people from owning semi-automatic weapons.
Stevens was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Richard Nixon. He also dissented on District of Columbia v. Heller, a case that solidified broad protections for the Second Amendment in 2008.
In his Times op-ed, Stevens said he felt the Supreme Court’s decision was “wrong and certainly was debatable” and gave the National Rifle Association “a propaganda weapon of immense power.”
You can read all of Stevens’ op-ed here.