Let’s talk about the Second Amendment right quick. Most right-wing conservatives, including a tiny minority of left-wing liberals, have been die-hard advocates for what the Second Amendment is supposed to represent – that is, to allow the everyday citizen to foment revolution against a perceived tyrannical government.

While there is still debate surrounding this definition, when it comes to how the Second Amendment is perceived at the federal level, the 2008 Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller makes it quite clear that the above definition (currently) stands.

The problem, however, is in just how vague such an idealistic construct really is. What is tyranny? Depending on who you ask, the answer to that question may be radically different from another’s. Like beauty, our understanding of tyranny is really in the eye of the beholder.

To someone who is left-wing, tyranny could be a government that takes away women’s reproductive rights; tyranny could be a government that makes it nearly impossible for people of color and low economic status from being able to vote. To someone who is right-wing, however, tyranny could be a government that tries limiting one’s access to certain weapons and ammunition; tyranny could be a government that forces their citizens to pay a small portion in taxes to help pay for medical healthcare for all.

Therein lies the problem with the Second Amendment. It does not provide an actual definition of what is to be considered tyranny. And thus leaves it to the imagination of its citizenry – the very people of which the Second Amendment allows to become armed and violent under the vague justification of what they perceive to be tyranny.

Here's the rub, however: There’s nothing we can really do about it now. As much as I’d want to abolish the Second Amendment, in the 21st century, the Second Amendment has become cemented and solidified via the emergence of additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing). In fact, the biggest distributor of 3D-printed weaponry specs, Defense Distributed, just won a major court battle that officially legalizes uploading (and downloading) 3D-printable gun blueprints over the Internet.

Before 3D printing made its way into the consumer mainstream, abolishing the Second Amendment could’ve been easily achieved. Guns and ammunition would instead be exchanged via the black market at a price so high that the vast majority of people wouldn’t be able to afford them. And yet, with 3D printing, gun manufacturing and sales have now entered the same realm as that of film and music exchange via torrents. One’s access to guns is now simply one click away.