A misinterpretation of the Second Amendment has trumped the First Amendment.

The opening provision of the Second Amendment reads:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…”

The security of a free state is encoded in the First Amendment. It must be remembered that the First Amendment, first and foremost of the amendments, is meant to be protected by the provisions of the Second Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

In other words, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…”

But, persons who have maliciously chosen to misinterpret the Second Amendment to say that it speaks only of individual ownership of guns have also traitorously silenced the first and primary freedoms of a free state delineated in the First Amendment – and we, the citizens of that supposed free state, are not allowed to discuss gun violence in this nation.

As a result, gun violence in every possible nook and cranny of this supposed free state erupts over and over and over again.

We must restore the First Amendment. We must be free to act as citizens of a free state and we must have a long and serious and detailed discussion of the horrific amount of recurring gun violence in this nation.

Karen Hedwig Backman, Federal Way