The Second Amendment consists of 27 words: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” An asterisk should note: an individual’s right is a relatively recent interpretation.

Under no conceivable reconstruction of our past could anyone rationally say the purpose of the Second Amendment was to enable mobs to force members of Congress to cower in fear as those members consider conviction, after impeachment, of the mobs’ leader, a would-be despot.

A few years ago Bill Maher said one party has no balls and the other has no brains. I prefer “guts” as a metaphor instead of testicles. That doesn’t matter now, though, as obviously the GOP lacks any semblance of courage or intelligence.

Gun culture kills nearly 40,000 people each year and now mobs shift that lethal force to further hatred and racism. To saunter into an unfamiliar place with a “piece” on the hip is the cowardly act of a bully, not an exercise “freedom.” They might shoot (unarmed) you if you object.

The Second Amendment constrains government, not private, action. If you own a business, you can ban firearms on your premises. You can tell friends and family you will not allow guns in your home and business owners you will not frequent places where people have guns.

This is not “cancel” culture. It is an exercise of the rights of private property and of forces in the marketplace. You cannot get more “conservative.” Until we counter the effect of GOP-packed courts, we have to do what we can to stop carnage. After all, progressives are the real "pro-life".