Jamie Raskin slams GOP lawmakers for using the 2nd Amendment to justify the Jan. 6 insurrection

In an op-ed for the New York Times, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) set the record straight with GOP lawmakers who are playing the 2nd Amendment card to justify the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Raskin, who taught constitutional law before entering Congress, began by calling out Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) before singling out Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for what he called their championing of the "insurrectionist theory of the Second Amendment."

Quoting Gaetz proclaiming the 2nd Amendment, "is about maintaining within the citizenry the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary,” Raskin shot back that the Florida Republican is stretching the truth.

"This purported right to overthrow the government means that the people must enjoy access to weapons that are wholly unnecessary for hunting or self-defense, such as military-style assault weapons," the Democratic lawmaker warned before citing Boebert's claim "that the Second Amendment 'has nothing to do with hunting, unless you’re talking about hunting tyrants, maybe.'"

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According to Raskin, "Statements such as these were irresponsible enough before Jan. 6. Today, such talk courts disaster. It valorizes the brutality of the worst insurrectionary domestic attack at the Capitol in U.S. history, freezes our ability to pass reasonable gun safety legislation and justifies even more deadly political violence."

"It is essential to reject the myth that frustrated citizens have a Second Amendment right to raise arms against the government — an outrageous betrayal of our Constitution," he added.

Raskin went on to point out that the Constitution already has provisions for insurrections.

"The Constitution treats insurrection and rebellion as political dangers, not protected rights," he argued. "Article I gives Congress the power to 'provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.' The guarantee clause in Article IV tells the United States to guarantee a republican form of government to the states and protect them 'against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.' These provisions followed Shays’ Rebellion, an armed uprising in Massachusetts in the 1780s."

He also noted, in a pointed barb at GOP lawmakers who continue to excuse the assault on the Capitol in an effort to overturn Donald Trump 2020 presidential election loss, that the 14th Amendment contains a provision that bans from "... public office anyone who had sworn an oath to support the Constitution but then participated in 'insurrection or rebellion' against the United States."

You can read more here.