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The Pros And Cons Of The Second Amendment

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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.
Before addressing this question, we should consider the circumstances which lead the framers to include this amendment. First and foremost, the framers believed that an armed populace was a deterrent to a tyrannical government. Secondly, the 2nd Amendment was drafted when guns took approximately 20 seconds or more to reload and only fired one shot. In today’s society, an AR-15 can fire off multiple shots per minute without needing to reload. Comparatively, the damage caused by the 18th century

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