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The Right To Own Guns Essay

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The Right to Own Guns
As American citizens, we have more rights and freedoms than any other group of people in the world. The founders of this country established these freedoms because they had previously lived in countries where the people did not have as many rights. One of these rights is stated in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which proclaims “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” But over the years various laws and regulations have infringed upon this right. The reasons for these laws are to get the guns that cause crime and injuries off the streets. But most of these laws have only prevented the common citizen from acquiring a firearm. There should be some regulation with regard to who …show more content…

But the amendment states that that the right to keep guns “shall not be infringed.” This would imply that any action that would eliminate guns or that would restrict ownership to a very small section of the population would be unconstitutional. But there are numerous states (California, Maryland, New York, Connecticut…) that have banned certain types of guns, including “assault weapons” and handguns. These types of laws do not just limit who can purchase a firearm, but they make it illegal for all citizens to own guns. Under the amendment, this is a violation of the Constitution.
Although there is heated argument over the Constitution, most all citizens will agree that there should be some sort of restrictions on who should be able to purchase or carry a firearm. The gun laws vary from state to state, but there is a set of federal statutes that apply to all of the states. The most important of these statutes is the outline of what classes of people are prohibited from possessing firearms. They include convicted felons, fugitives from justice, unlawful users of certain drugs, persons committed to mental institutions, illegal aliens, persons less than eighteen years old, and persons convicted of any domestic violence (NRA--ILA Homepage). Even strict anti-gun control proponents realize that these types of people should not own guns. They also agree with most of the other federal statutes with regard to who is able to buy, sell, and use

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