SPEAKING OUT

John Paul Stevens: It’s Time to Repeal the Second Amendment

In op-ed, ex-Supreme Court justice calls it a “relic of the 18th century.”

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for the repeal of the Second Amendment in a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday. Stevens, who served on the Supreme Court from 1975 to 2010, called the Second Amendment “a relic of the 18th century” that saw a lifting in its previously limited reach in 2008’s District of Columbia v. Heller decision. He said that case’s ruling “provided the [National Rifle Association] with a propaganda weapon of immense power,” and that overturning the Second Amendment “would be simple and would do more to weaken the NRA’s ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun-control legislation than any other available option.” Stevens, now 97, also called for the March for Our Lives leaders to demand the amendment’s repeal, and claimed it “would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform.” In an 2014 op-ed in The Washington Post, Stevens called for the courts to clarify the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms existed “in the Militia.”