Second Amendment Maybe A Little Out-Dated Essay, Research Paper
Second Amendment: Maybe a Little Out-Dated
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 (Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution). Granted that no person or government in there right mind would try to take over or oppress a nation were that nations people are well armed with weapons capable of killing a man in an instant. In a nation were freedom is paramount, a citizen should be able to decide if he or she, for there own protection, should be armed or not. However that does not justify a machine pistol or assault rifle in the hands of your local Quicky-Mart employee.
Having a gun can help you protect your belongings from robbery or burglary. Robbery or burglary victims who defend themselves with a gun are less likely to lose their property than are victims who do not resist or those who resist without a gun (Should You…). If a burglar sees that you have a gun that burglar will run for his life. 20 percent of police officers who are fatally wounded with firearms are shot with their own gun (Brady Bill). Defending yourself with a gun is relatively dangerous and may result in the attacker wrestling the gun away from you, even if your are properly trained. Although criminals rarely take defender s guns it does happen and should be considered.
People that are properly trained can defend not only themselves, but can also defend there family. The pervious statement is proven by The Justice Department s National Crime Victimization Survey, which states there are roughly 80,000 instances were guns are used in self-defense annually. Surely those eighty-thousand families that had a gun last year are very glad that there was a gun in the house. On the other hand, studies in Seattle have shown that for every one instance of self-defense, there are five criminal homicides, one accidental gunshot death, and 37 firearm suicides (Kellermann). Even this shows that there are more criminals with guns then there are citizens with licences, and the proper training. The average background check takes about a minute while the gun salesmen checks state criminal history files, state drivers license, statewide warrants, NCIC hot files and NCIC Triple I records (Brady Bill). If licenced gun owners went through more riggerase training, mental screening, and had better knowledge of were to keep there weapon, there would be less accidents and suicides.
In 1993, Congress enacted the Handgun Violence Protection Act, Commonly referred to as the “Brady Bill”. The Act requires background checks be conducted on individuals purchasing handguns from federally licensed firearms dealers. The Brady Bill is a great leap forward for gun control lobby, it allows
is convicted of a felony.
is under indictment for a felony, but has not gone to court.
is the unlawful user of a controlled substance.
is drug dependant.
is adjudicated mentally defective or been committed to a mental institution.
is an illegal or unlawful alien in the Untied States.
is dishonorably discharged from the military.
has renounced citizenship of the United States.
is subject to court order restraining them from harassing, stalking or threatening another (i.e. spouse, former spouse, co-habitant, former co-habitant or child of such partner).
cannot prove state residency with proper identification.
has a warrant on the Statewide Warrant System. (Brady Bill)
While the Brady Bill puts such limitations on people to make sure they are suitable for owning a firearm, it is also quite new and does nothing about the guns that people already own.
All these laws are good and dandy if the person looking for a gun is going through licenced salesmen. However most guns used in criminal acts are not purchased from retail salesmen. In fact almost 75 percent of the guns used in criminal acts are acquired from the black market, from theft, or from borrowing (Guns and…). This is another reason why licenced gun owners should be well informed about were to keep there weapons and the laws pertaining to there ownership.
In the time of the writing of the Constitution, citizen militias, what eventually became the National Guard, were a major part of what made this country free. Then, guns, or more rightly, muzzle-loaded muskets, were an essential part of the defense of that freedom. The authors did not
want their government, or any future government, to take from the people their ability to defend themselves against aggressors, from the inside or out. But does this justify machine pistols and assault rifles? Well, maybe so, because the Supreme Court says so… but we need to be careful, and use the 2nd Amendment in the way it was meant.
Works Cited
Brady Bill. http://www.ps.ex.state.ut.us/lets/bcibrady.htm 19 May 1998
Guns and Crime. Newsweek 6 Dec.1993: 20-22
Kellermann, Arthur. Greater Danger. New England Journal of Medicine 1986
Should You Own A Gun? U.S. News & World Report. 15 Aug. 1994: 36-38
Second Amendment. U.S. Constitution 7 Dec. 1781
The Politics of Crime. Newsweek 4 Jan. 1994: 24-28
Works Consulted
The Gun Lobby. U.S. News & World Report. 22 May 1995: 37
The Fight to Bear Arms. U.S. News & World Report. 22 May 1995: 29