How does the NRA use the 2nd and 4th amendments as political platforms?
The 2nd Amendment is the one that’s talked about most when we deal with the issue of gun control. The NRA likes to focus on the last half of the 2nd Amendment and ignore the first half of the 2nd Amendment. The last half talks about “… the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” and those are the words the NRA has chiseled on their headquarters. The first half of the 2nd Amendment talks about a “well-regulated militia” being necessary to the security of a free state. In my mind, you need to read the entire amendment when you try to analyze it. I point out to people that the 2nd Amendment is the only amendment to the U.S. Constitution that has the word “regulated” in it. You can argue about whether they’re regulating a militia or whether they’re regulating private ownership. But obviously, if you’re using the word “well-regulated” you’re contemplating some level of regulation. The 2nd Amendment though, by talking about the right to bear arms has become, for the NRA, the p
