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Gun Control And The Second Amendment

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4. Like almost every right, the Second Amendment is not and was not intended to be completely unlimited. Although it is difficult to identify exactly what the Founding Fathers intended to limit and afford, many concepts can be logically inffered. Additionally, contemporary court cases have attempted to make these limitations more definable. For instance, the federal government prohibited the purchase of handguns by any citizen below the age of 21 in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. Although an age restriction probably would not have been endorsed by the Founding Fathers, it is currently constitutional due to precedent case ruling. Currently, waiting periods for firearms are dealt with on a state-by-state basis. There is no federal law requiring a waiting period on firearms, however states differ on this issue. For example, California has a ten-day waiting period for the purchase of all firearms while Alabama possesses no such law. The Supreme Court ruling somewhat addressed this issue in Heller stating that “nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms… or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms”. Nevertheless, the Court failed to explain in detail what the “conditions and qualifications” actually refers to. Pertaining to the carrying of concealed weapons, in 2014 Federal Judge Scullin overturned the District of Columbia’s total ban on residents

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