The United States allows its citizens to purchase guns readily. Do you know how crazy that sounds to anyone else in the world? Guns are built for killing people.
On Wednesday, when a close ally of President Donald Trump and political commentator Charlie Kirk was fatally shot in the neck while speaking to students at Utah Valley University, a bulletproof vest wouldn’t have stopped the bullet, nor would security or a good guy with a gun. The issue is more systematic, and the solution simpler.
The Second Amendment must be abolished.
As it is written in the U.S. Constitution, the Second Amendment is, explicitly, the right to “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.” When the amendment was put into law in 1791, the most deadly weapon was a flintlock pistol, a highly inaccurate weapon by today’s standards that took 15-30 seconds to reload.
The Founding Fathers couldn’t have anticipated the weapons that exist today. Not nuclear or drone, but those readily available to the U.S. public. The highly accurate, easily reloaded, far more deadly devices that are explicitly designed for the murder of one or many targets.
So what does the Second Amendment protect? Hero fantasies.
Guns are everywhere in American media. In video games, movies, television shows and social media alike. The delusion of a good guy with a gun being able to take down bad guys with a gun is at the center of why the U.S. has decided the right to these weapons should still be inalienable.
Whether it’s the John Wick series, the “Call of Duty” franchise or any other media that glorifies the use of guns to get revenge or take down bad guys, it’s a virus that’s invaded how U.S. citizens think about and interact with guns.
Kirk should not have to be a martyr for radical change to gun legislation. The tragedy of Sandy Hook was almost 13 years ago, and even that wasn’t enough to put anti-gun legislation into place in the U.S.
In 2025 alone, due to the U.S.’s negligence in dealing with gun violence, there have been 359 mass shootings 6,888 since Jan. 1, 2013.
Kirk and other conservative mouthpieces would have their constituents think these deaths are necessary to maintain their hero fantasy, that empathy is a “made-up New Age term that does a lot of damage,” or that gun reform is simply impossible. Although none of those statements are true, it doesn’t make Kirk or the tens of thousands of Americans killed by gun violence each year any less tragic or barbaric.
Gun reform is possible and effective. Look at Australia. In 1996, at Port Arthur, a perpetrator named Martin Bryant killed or injured 58 people. Two weeks later, Australia implemented strict gun laws, banning the private ownership of semi-automatic and pump-action weapons. In the 29 years since, Australia has had one mass shooting.
The facts are simple. The Second Amendment has gone from a righteous ruling against tyranny to an unjust protection of delusional people who believe themselves to be good guys with guns, leading to the murder of countless Americans year after year. Radical change must be made.
Logan Adams is a senior studying journalism. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Logan know by tweeting him @LoganPAdams.
