In his letter advocating repeal of the Second Amendment (“Letters,” May 29), Carlino Giampolo says that it was “made to protect our newly formed country from invading forces”, and we don’t need that anymore because of our powerful army. His understanding of the Constitution and the culture surrounding it is badly flawed.

The Second Amendment had absolutely nothing to do with protecting the country from foreign invaders. The Constitution already handled this by giving Congress the power to “provide for the common Defence.” It was Congress’s duty “to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia.”

The Second Amendment was created so that ordinary citizens could protect themselves from the Government, or perhaps from hostile individuals or small groups. There was a very strong distrust of centralized Government in those days, such that even establishing a very weak government (such as under the Articles of Confederation) was extremely difficult.

There was a great need for something like the Bill of Rights to alleviate the people’s fear of government tyranny. A fear, which I might suggest, seems well founded even today.

DWIGHT WELDON
McDonald

First Published: June 2, 2022, 4:00 a.m.