Adam Ross Second Amendment

Imagine Black Friday shopping at the local mall knowing that people all around could be carrying loaded guns! Even though this may sound far fetched, under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, citizens have the right to possess and carry guns. Was this the intent of the Founding Fathers when they penned the Second Amendment? When written, the Second Amendment was about protecting the American government from both foreign and domestic threats (Truthout). Gun control is one of the hottest topics at water cooler discussions across America today. This topic is very polarizing. American citizens news feeds are flooded with stories about shootings on a daily basis, innocent victims being shot during a crime, senseless mass shoots, shots fired in self-defense, police shootings of criminals, and last but not least, the shooting that occurs in war. Americans are bombarded with reports and images of gun violence from television, the press, social media, and computer war games. Yet, how many people have actually held a gun? How many have

The second amendment states that right to keep and bear arms. This law has been etched in the United States history for centuries thus creating the highly popularized debate whether they should be gun control laws. Members and advocates of the National Rifle Association would argue against gun control. Their aim is to shift the focus away from guns and their destructive potential but instead have people focus on the criminal and shift the argument to them being mentally incapable or suggest that there is a lack of security within schools (Henigan 2009). Voices of the NRA do make valid points, however it prevents them from seeing the bigger picture. We as a society have drifted from the crux of the issue, which is, when put simply, guns are dangerous. In America, guns are extremely dangerous. Anyone who chooses to Google “gun violence statistics” and find the official research study done by the National Institute of Justice it would show you that 15 of the 25 worst mass shootings in the last 50 years took place in America. It also vividly reminds us of how guns are easily obtained. The mass shootings that took place in America over the last

The second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of people to bear arms and was adopted in 1791. It guarantees all Americans "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." It is more described as supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state. Former Chief Justice of the United States, Warren E. Burger writes an essay regarding “The Right To Bear Arms,” that originally appeared in the Parade Magazine in the 1990’s that questions if “The Right To Bear Arms,” is an outdated idea. Burger argument is that the gun control would lower if handguns were lowered. He also talks about the”Militias,” which is an army that protects the security of the state. Our “State Militias,” in our time, serves as a huge national defense.

The argument that has lasted for centuries begins with the first part “A well regulated militia”. Over the years, many of the nation’s supreme courts have ruled in a lot of different ways. The definition of a well regulated militia means to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections

America’s gift to my generation is our rights. One right in particular is the second amendment of the constitution “The Right To Bear Arms”. The second amendment of the bill of rights guarantees the right to own firearms and use them. The second amendment was approved 8 years after the revolutionary war.The second amendment was created December 15 1791. The ten amendments were created so they wouldn’t be put in a situation where they were controlled by a tyrannical government again, and to set the foundation for our newly founded government. The ten amendments were written in independence hall in Philadelphia. The second amendment isn’t just referring to the use of a weapon as a means of hunting but to protect you or many persons if needed.

“Americans are deeply divided over the Second Amendment. Some passionately assert that the Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns. Others, that it does no more than protect the right of states to maintain militias” (Cornell). The Second Amendment of the constitution gives citizens the right to bear arms, and is therefore one of the most important laws of the nation. This amendment holds an important value to our nation because, it prevents tyranny but, it also protects, spreads, and contributes to the causes of human rights. Over the past years there’s been controversy among the people and the true meaning of the Second Amendment. The understanding of the Second Amendment was to be a civic right in which who keep and bear arms will need to meet a legal obligation of participating in a well-regulated militia (Cornell 2). The definition for a well-regulated militia means to provide help in which involves carrying out the laws of the union, end rebellions against the government and protect against invasions. Thus, the Second Amendment shaped the country in which we live today. This country is bound on civil rights and individual freedom. In the book A Well Regulated Militia by Saul Cornell the debates in 1780-1850 took part into shaping what it will become the Second Amendment. This is because gun ownership will be seen as a civic obligation. Gun ownership is a civic obligation because it brings the need for protecting the nation. Shay’s rebellion was one of the

The second amendment of The Constitution of the Unites States rules that “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.” In recent years this has become a highlighted and popular discussion topic throughout people and media. Typical with American media the subject of gun control is visited with broad stroked of red and the use of fear tactics while completely ignoring the complicated and underling positives and negatives of public access to firearms and the benefits and risks associated with this freedom. Most people do not carry a weapon at all and may question others who do because of the moderately low risk of being a victim of a crime. Those how carry however like to think “Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”

Samuel Wurzelbacher, AKA Joe the Plumber, watched Richard Martinez mourn over the death of his only son who was shot in the Isla Vista rampage. He responded to Richard Martinez with an open letter on a website, Barbwire.com, saying : ‘I am sorry you lost your child. I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through right now. But: as harsh as this sounds---your dead kids don 't trump my Constitutional rights.’ This is the type of thing that people find so terrible about the Second Amendment; because pro-gun zealots use the Second Amendment to protect their immoral actions, but this is their twisted and corrupted interpretation on the meaning and intent of the Amendment because this is in no way the original premise of the Second Amendment. The right to bear arms laid out in the Second Amendment is just because guns are weapons for self-defense. Precautions are taken on gun control, such as keeping a permanent record of all gun sales, requiring a license and certain mental certifications, and only allowing certain guns to be distributed to the public. Although some may argue that they can also be used to kill the innocent, the removal of guns from the possession of certified citizens will not stop crime, murder, or the death of innocents because guns are not the only weapons capable of these deaths.

The 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, outlining the right for any citizens to bear arms, is considered a cornerstone of our culture, but given how weapons have advanced so much since the amendment was drafted, is the “right to bear arms” truly ethical? In the past several decades, the United States has witnessed an unprecedented number of mass shootings (372 in 2015 alone), increasing in deadliness as citizens gain access to more advanced tech. Despite the frequency of these shootings and the number of victims killed, there has been little effective action taken to curtail these shootings in the United States. While liberals argue that the solution is strict gun regulation, conservatives claim that it infringes on the rights guaranteed by the 2nd amendment. Effectively, we’re forced to ask whether our right to own weapons is ethical in light of these tragedies where many innocent lives are lost. In good faith, I will argue in favor of the liberal argument of strict gun laws.

We spend as much on our military as the other 9 largest military spenders in the world combined! We have as many aircraft carriers as the rest of the world has combined! Our military is the largest in the world by far, and thus the need for a militia is practically non-existent, unless an unlikely alliance between the rest of the world against the U.S occurs. Militias are used for the defense of a country, which we have of, like I stated previously, we spend about 3.6 times more money on our military than China, and they are the second highest military spender in the world. $629,000,000,000 is about how much we spend on our military defense budget, which effectively eliminates the need for a militia.

“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjugated races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjugated races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or native police.”

When the first colonists came to America "firearms where tools of everyday life, especially on the frontier" (Gerber 7). They used these guns to hunt, which was a very important source of food. These settlers also had to protect themselves from Native Americans. They also had no police so they needed to protect themselves when a criminal was on the loose. They would “hue and cry” which alerted the other citizens to help look for and arrest the criminal (Gerber 9). "To carry out their duty, citizens were expected to supply their own weapons" (Gerber 9). In these early days, "every man was expected to have weapons and know how to use them" (Gerber 10). Slave rebellion and Indian attacks were not uncommon. They even carried their guns to church and in some colonies if they could not afford ammunition it was supplied to them by the government. (Gerber 9) Clearly, the United States has changed immensely from the time of the first colonists to now. These people were forced to protect themselves, and had no security such as the police force we have today. The Second Amendment also states that a “well regulated militia shall not be infringed” (The Bill of Rights, Amendment II). When we think of a militia, there are several different interpretations. Militia means something very different today then it did when the first colonists were living in America. It is said that “it comes from a Latin word for ‘soldier’ and usually refers to a group of citizens who are prepared to protect their community in times of emergency” (Gerber 13). We still have a militia today, but they go by a different name and they are not as critically needed as they were back then. Militias were extremely important in the time of the first colonies because the people had no

The traditional norm of protecting the second amendment of the Constitution is an issue in contemporary culture because of the vast growth of a more liberal stance on guns. Many Americans oppose the idea that the second amendment should be protected at all costs, as well as that no regulations should take place. Because our country lacks strict regulations on the buying of dangerous weapons, countless lives are lost each month. Our country is clinging to the protection of an outdated amendment that is in turn, hurting the American people. This issue is a priority for a majority of citizens because of how it occurs within our own country. Countless people and their families have been victims of gun violence, which in turn results in the desire

America is the most well armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). Indeed, this is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment, which states, “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.” (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: “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.” The constitution is clearly saying all citizens have the right to be able to own and carry a weapon or firearm. On June 26, 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the United States Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home and within federal enclaves (Cornell 1). This is showing how our founding fathers supported the right to bear arms.