Kevin Lane
Professor Burger-Weiser
First Year Writing
1 May 2015
Eliminating Assault Rifles
Gun control is a frequently debated topic in the United States. It is often defined as any sort of law or regulation that restricts or forbids the use, the sale, or ownership of a firearm. People argue that because the constitution allows citizens the right to bear arms, that citizens should be allowed to carry weapons, however, this is often taken out of context. The Second Amendment says that citizens have the right to bear arms in an organized militia, “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” (US Const. amend. II, section 8). Over the last few years, there have been many events that sparked additional debate about gun control. Numerous school shootings demonstrate that weapons need to be regulated and controlled.
Although one reason given for promoting gun rights is personal protection, assault rifles have been used to commit mass murders, not protect. In today’s world violence is a huge issue, terrorist attacks and school shootings have made safety an even bigger concern for many people. Some people argue that people should be able to own a gun for safety purposes; but why should a citizen be able to own an assault rifle, a weapon more powerful than the weapons we give our police officers? It has been argued that the horrible events of the Colorado movie theater shooting in
America needs to institute, and initiate gun control laws throughout the entire nation. But not everybody who inhabits the United States believes in regulating arms. Those who are against establishing gun laws argue that gun control directly infringes upon their “right to bear arms” granted to them by the 2nd Amendment. Anti gun control supporters, such as the National Rifle Association, often claim that the act of regulating guns is a sufficient reason why such an Amendment was introduced in the constitution; to protect themselves from any and all forms of violation of civil liberties and freedom. Supporters of anti gun laws are unwilling to welcome any interpretations of the 2nd Amendment that do not match up “word for word,” as was written in the Bill of Rights.
Over the last years gun control has become a very widely debated topic. The city, county and state lawmakers seem to be having different stands about the public having easy access to guns. Adam Small states, “After centuries of relative obscurity, the Second Amendment has become the center of an intense academic and legal battle during the last twenty years” (1213). The supporters of gun control and its opponents both claim to have the best interest of this country’s citizens .However, there are private citizens who believe that there should be laws to limit the number of people who own a gun. Even though the United States has enacted laws for regulating firearms, the recent shootings at Aurora movie theatre and Sandy
Gun control and gun rights are crucial topics that have been debated for years. Some people believe that civilians should not have the right to own a gun while others believe it is our god given right to bear arms. The second amendment of the Bill of Rights 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.”(Shermer). This is a right that society has had for years and is one of the main reasons why no solution has been reached yet. There are two main sides to this debate, Gun control advocates focus on the serious negative effects of gun availability on health and safety, while gun-ownership advocates emphasize the lawful use of guns and
Gun control is one of the oldest laws dating back to the early 1800’s. It was approved in the southern part of the United States. During this period, the Georgia administration banned handguns, but the Supreme Court cancelled the law after some time due to the second amendment. The second amendment of the United States which says “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.” has secured certain gun rights for Americans for more than two centuries. But, over the past years, more laws have been made regarding the purchase and usage of guns.
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.”
“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.” These are the famous words drafted by the founding fathers into the Bill of Rights. This particular amendment has since then been a major part of American culture. Through the second amendment it has given American citizens freedom to buy firearms of any sort: AR-15s, AK-47s, handguns, and the like for self-defense. However, in light of the most recent mass shootings, people have felt that it is time to change if not regulate the freedom the second amendment grants. That is to say that some believe that there needs to be a solution to reduce if not end the gun violence in America by regulating and restricting the access to weapons meant for the police and military by American civilians. Ultimately, the solution to this social problem of gun violence in America is gun control. What is gun control exactly? From an extreme conservative's perspective, gun control is a means of disarming the public and infringing the right the second amendment grants Americans. What this point of view fails to take into account is that gun control is not about infringing on any right or disarming American civilians. It is about restricting the access and sales of deadly firearms to potential felons who have the capability of using them to commit mass murder. Furthermore, what some do not realize is that the second amendment was written in
During the presidential campaign in 2007 president Barrack Obama in his speech said that ‘we know what to do, we’ve got to enforce laws that are in the book’ in his speeches, he alluded to the fact that we are not doing enough to enforce the already existing laws and this is exactly what in all these many words I have been trying to put forward. Implementation is in many ways a political function. In, effort to reduce gun violence without stricter gun control, our federal government needs to take the responsibility in enforcing the current laws. The justice departments need to be proactive with prosecutions especially with cases of falsification of background information for example in 2009 FBI reported 77,000 falsifications but only 77 or 1% were prosecuted. Congress also needs to approve enough funding for national instant criminal background check system (NCIS) and also states should be encouraged to provide more information regarding background information. The issue of straw man purchases should be well investigated and properly penalized. Organizations like the NRA and the community, who value gun ownership, needs to put the pressure on the federal government. In doing this, citizens have the right to file petitions to the state legislature, or place a ballet to be voted upon by voters, or just voting for those who have the power to make changes. In taking these actions, we can see that Congress will provide more funding, like grants for our current background check
The ongoing debate about gun control i largely intertwines with the 2nd Amendment. In 1791, our founding fathers ratified the 2nd amendment to the constitution, allowing the “right to bear arms”. As law-abiding citizens, we should exercise our right to carry a gun responsibly. A large portion of the American population feels that any form of gun control enactment would infringe on their rights as a gun holder and eventually eliminate their privilege to possess a firearm. Which could possibly lead to challenging other civil liberties. However, due to the carnage left from mass killings, mentally disturbed attacks, assault weapons, and terrorist, stricter
There has been an increase in gun sales and conceal and carry permits nearly tripling from 4.7 million to 12.8 million in response to mass shootings like Sandy Hook (Johnson). As time goes on, there has been an increased amount of debates about whether or not the United States should be adding additional regulations to firearms. Some say the U.S. should not because it would be considered as the government infringing on the people’s rights in the words of the Second Amendment: “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.” On the opposing side, others feel that guns are something that should not be
Gun control is a highly controversial issue with each proponent (Pro vs. Con) providing statistics and facts supporting their standpoint. However, in the past several decades, advocates supporting gun control have significantly suffered with state’s enacting concealed carry legislation. The Constitution of the United States of America, the Second Amendment, is one of the most prevalent issues in government. To further reduce their stance, recent court decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), has reassured citizens that their Second Amendment rights shall not be infringed upon by any government entity. 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.”
Gun control laws are the government’s way of regulating the manufacture, sale, transportation, possession, and use of firearms. In our world today, we face the vast controversy of gun control and who should be able to possess a destructive firearm, and under what conditions. These laws differ significantly around the world, and in fact the laws in the United States vary by state. Supporters of strict gun laws argue the dangers of allowing citizens broad rights to possess firearms. Opponents claim that they wish to have a source of defense in their home, and also that certain regulations may violate their individual rights. Gun control laws are protected by the second amendment in the Bill of Rights, the right to bear arms. “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 bill guarantees Americans the
Gun control has a history dating back to 1791, when the Second Amendment of the Constitution was ratified. However, more recently, the debate over gun control has escalated into a much more public issue to which many citizens can relate. After all, stories about incidents involving guns appear frequently today in newspapers and on television or the radio. One could say that the debate started with the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned ownership of guns by certain groups of people and regulated the sale of guns. Since then, two main groups have gradually appeared: people who oppose strict federal
The Founding Father wrote the second amendment to state, “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,” (Cornell University Law School). The topic of Gun Control has been coming up more and more in America as different events in different states affects people viewpoint on the topic of Gun Control. In the past few years there have been shootings in Elementary schools, High School, Colleges, Movie Theaters and even on our armed forces bases. As this country is moving into electing out 45th president, they need to be able to address the issue of how the topic of Gun Control in the upcoming years.
“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 right of all Americans to bear arms is a right the Founding Fathers held to equal importance as the Constitution itself. Gun control laws directly violate this right and therefore should not even be under consideration. Even if that issue is overlooked, gun control advocates state that in order to reduce firearm related violence, gun control laws must be implemented to remove the violence caused by firearms. Although this may seem reasonable, the consequences of such laws are ironically counterproductive; they exacerbate the problem instead of fixing it. Besides the fact that the American
More and more often, we are saddened by the news of mass shootings. Whether it takes place in a school or public area, these shootings are both disastrous and mortifying. Families begin to feel anger and sadness and demand immediate justice. Although these terrible events continue to happen, there have been no significant steps taken towards the decrease in the number of weapons; specifically, assault rifles. This leads one to question do we need to ban the right to own such weapons? If the possession of these weapons is not made illegal, we run the risk of another attack. A ban on assault rifles is not the answer because they are not the cause of such events, and it is a constitutional right to own them.