A full-time professor on the faculty of the newly-minted Texas A&M University School of Law called for the repeal and replacement of the Second Amendment on Friday.
The professor, Mary Margaret “Meg” Penrose, made her controversial declaration during a day-long panel symposium on gun control and the Second Amendment at the University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford.
UConn’s main student-run journal, The Connecticut Law Review, organized the event, according to Connecticut Public Radio. It was well-attended, primarily by law students, law professors and local attorneys.
Penrose was among the speakers, reports CTNewsJunkie, a Connecticut news site.
Penrose cited the Sandy Hook massacre, which occurred in Connecticut, as well as other mass shootings including the 2011 Tucson shooting that left six people dead and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded.
Noting her own outrage that Americans continue to tolerate gun violence, Penrose asked audience members to raise their hands if they thought laws intended to prevent gun violence have been successful. No one raised a hand.
“I think I’m in agreement with you and, unfortunately, drastic times require drastic measures,” the professor said, according to CTNewsJunkie. “I think the Second Amendment is misunderstood and I think it’s time today, in our drastic measures, to repeal and replace that Second Amendment.”
Penrose then proposed a solution that would allow each state to determine its own gun policies.
“The beauty of a ‘states’ rights model’ solution is it allows those of you who want to live in a state with strong restrictions to do so and those who want to live in a state with very loose restrictions to do so,” the professor explained.
Penrose also noted that she tells students in her constitutional law courses that the entire United States Constitution is an obsolete document.
“Why do we keep such an allegiance to a constitution that was driven by 18th Century concerns?” she asked, according to CTNewsJunkie. “How many of you recognize that the main concern of the 18th Century was a standing army? That’s what motivated the Second Amendment: fear of a standing army.”
She described herself as “somewhat agnostic about guns” but “extremely passionate about” the Constitution she calls outdated.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy also spoke at the event, stressing his belief that the Second Amendment offers a limited right and bragging about the strict gun control laws he signed earlier this year.
“In the 1930s, machine guns were the weapon of choice for mobsters,” Malloy said, according to Connecticut Public Radio. “And we collectively decided that machine guns should be illegal for private possession in the United States. We don’t see machine guns being used in the U.S. in crimes. We did for some time after the ban was initially implemented but there’s a reality about what happens to those kinds of weapons once they become illegal.”
At least one symposium speaker wasn’t hell-bent on destroying the Second Amendment.
Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law, observed that gun control laws have a sordid racially-motivated history.
“The first gun control laws were actually meant to subjugate slaves,” Blackman explained, according to CTNewsJunkie. “There has been a very close connection between gun control and racism.”
Penrose’s employer, Texas A&M University School of Law, is located in downtown Fort Worth. Texas A&M acquired the school just this year, reports the TAMUtimes.
Previously, the school had been Texas Wesleyan School of Law. The most recent US News ranking of the best law schools ranks Texas Wesleyan in the dreaded “rank not published” category of law schools. Third Tier Reality, a blog dedicated to hating bad law schools, has described the school as a “dung pit” and “a fourth tier pile of rat droppings.”
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