“We have to repeal the 2nd Amendment and implement a mandatory buyback program for all privately owned firearms in the United States,” writes the Opinions Editor.
The column, penned by Kyle Campbell in The Crimson White, the paper of record for the University of Alabama, offers that the final solution to the gun violence issue is to get rid of them.
“If Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were British, they would likely still be alive, as would the five slain Dallas police officers, for the same reason – almost all British citizens, including most British police officers, are prohibited from gun ownership,” argues Campbell before pointing out the Dallas ambush gunman likely was not a prohibited firearms possessor and that no law proposed by Democrats in the days and weeks before or after would have plausibly kept guns out of his hands.
“If we are going to solve this problem – if we believe that black lives matter or that all lives matter or that any lives matter more than firearms do – we have to make the most difficult political decision of our time,” writes Campbell. “We have to repeal the 2nd Amendment and implement a mandatory buyback program for all privately owned firearms in the United States.”
In closing, Campbell wagers that lawmakers supporting such a drastic move would likely forfeit their political careers, but it would be worth it. As for the Founding Fathers and their logic behind the need for the Second Amendment, Campbell is blunt, saying, “I am not ashamed to have a different opinion on property rights than slaveholders.”
The Crimson White is a daily with a circulation of about 15,000 papers in the general Tuscaloosa area.
According to Campbell’s Linkedin page, he is the Deputy National Membership Director for College Democrats of America and a polisci major set to graduate in 2017.
On his social media account, Campbell referenced taking flak for the article, saying:
In the hours since this was published but before I posted, two commenters called for my removal from The Crimson White Editorial Board. But there was another comment that was more revealing: “Kyle is the very reason we have the 2nd Amendment.”
It’s true. The 2nd Amendment was ratified to preserve slavery, as better writers than me have laid out before. For that reason and over 30,000 more every year, it’s time to do away with it.
