Michael Moore drafts new constitutional amendment to take away gun rights

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore was mocked on Sunday after he published a draft of a new constitutional amendment that would repeal the Second Amendment.

What does the proposal say?

Just days after recounting the privileges of "full citizenship," Moore published his draft of a new constitutional amendment that would severely restrict firearm ownership.

The proposed amendment contains eight sections and demonstrates clear misunderstandings of constitutional law.

The first section focuses on protecting Americans from "gun violence and the fear thereof." It reads:

The inalienable right of a free people to be kept safe from gun violence and the fear thereof must not be infringed and shall be protected by the Congress and the States. This Amendment thus repeals and replaces the Second Amendment.

The amendment also raises the minimum legal age for firearm ownership to 25 (section 4), establishes a national firearm registry (section 2), outlines a lengthy and strict process for firearm ownership (sections 2, 3, and 4), and outlaws all semi-automatic firearms (section 5).

In Moore's dystopian utopia, then, only firearms like revolvers and bolt-action rifles are legal. Moore similarly limits who can own firearms to licensed hunters, those who are licensed for sport shooting, and "the few who can demonstrate a special need for personal protection," which inevitably limits firearm ownership to the elite and privileged.

The proposed amendment also outlaws "any homemade equipment and machinery ... that can make a gun or weapon that can take a human life" (section 5).

Finally, the proposed amendment says that police officers who carry "shall be subject to comprehensive and continuous monitoring and shall be dismissed if found to exhibit any racist or violent behavior" (section 7) and demands that any American who owns any firearms made illegal under the amendment has only one month to surrender them to the government (section 8).

What was the response?

The proposal was met with a range of criticism.

Some critics noted the amendment would significantly empower the federal government, others noted the proposal itself would violate other parts of the Constitution, while others noted that vague language in the proposal could have unintended consequences.

• "This is really, really stupid. His vision for an amendment allows for abuse that would effectively remove all limitation from the federal government. He’s even got a special carve out for thought crime," musician Phil Labonte reacted.
• "Such a cute effort! Good virtue signaling Michael. And, pray tell, how exactly would you confiscate the 200+ million firearms that are legally owned by US citizens, that would suddenly violate your cute amendment, without provoking a civil war?" psychologist Geoffrey Miller reacted.
• "Uh oh… this could harvest dozens, nay, severals of votes!" Adam Baldwin mocked.
• "Really kind of amazing. Draconian, as one would expect. And long -- longer than 14th Amendment. Just say the moviemaker hasn't mastered the constitutional amendment style," conservative writer Byron York responded.
• "Tyrants and their fat sycophants fetishize over an unarmed and subservient population," Michael Quinn Sullivan said.
• "Since the fifth amendment doesn't allow for any restriction of liberty without due process, this would be instantly unconstitutional," another person noted.
• "I read it, it’s a declaration of war on gun owners," one person characterized.
• "I wonder why Moore's 28th Amendment, which would rescind the Second Amendment, does not include any provisions to stop the proliferation of illegally-obtained guns? Almost like he is more concerned with disarming law-abiding citizens instead of violent criminals," one person observed.
• "Michael Moore is smart enough to understand the political likelihood of a 2nd Amendment repeal is less than a tenth of a percent. This is the definition of white liberal self-righteous virtue signaling," another person responded.
• "Lol this would make essentially every tool ever invented illegal. Sorry no drill presses, no lathes, no grinding wheels, no mills, no whetstones, no files, definitely no 3D printers, no routers, Michael Moore says they are too scary and might let you make a weapon," another person observed.

Fortunately, the Constitution establishes a high bar for amendments — two-thirds approval in Congress and approval by three-fourths of the states, or else a convention of states called by two-thirds of the states, followed by ratification of three-fourths of the states — thus Moore's porposal will never become constitutional law.