“As the Second Amendment says, a well-regulated militia is essential to our national identity,” former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell told the Morning Joe crew on Monday, adding that gun control advocates need only follow the Amendment in order to accomplish their goals.

“The American people want to see something done, and it is not a threat to the Second Amendment,” Powell said, live at The Dubliner.

“A message I’d like to see get out is: ’we’re not taking away your Second Amendment rights,’” Powell said. ”I believe in the Second Amendment, I have guns in my home, I am prepared to protect my family, but I’m prepared to do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone buying guns is checked—what is objectionable about that?”

Extremists who think they need to protect themselves from the government need to be countered by diplomatic calls for gun control, the panel agreed.

“The Second Amendment was written to protect the people from the government, but the reality is the government isn’t coming after you and the Second Amendment is intact. You can own guns legally,” Powell said. “But the American people have been devastated by what’s happened at Newtown and elsewhere.”