...The 2nd Amendment of the Constitution addresses the United States militia and the right to bear arms. For many years now, there has been a debate on the true interpretation of the amendment. Many believe it is interpreted as the individual's right to bear arms. These people think that having stronger gun control laws is unconstitutional and violates their 2nd Amendment rights. This is untrue, the 2nd Amendment refers to the state’s militia having the right to bear arms, not the right of any individual. In one year, 2,624 children die from acts of gun violence. 1,591 children are murdered, 853 children commit suicide, and 123 are killed unintentionally (Brady Campaign). But all of these tragedies could have been prevented. The 2nd Amendment states 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” (Constitution Center). But in recent years, this amendment has yet to be accurately interpreted. Many believe the 2nd Amendment is speaking only of the right to bear arms and the levels of gun control. Advocates of gun control...
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...“Obama To Unveil Gun Control Reforms In Near Future” by Sam Stein depicts an African American president who decided to reform gun control. According to Sam, 6 months after the attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Gillfords left the Obama administration scrambling to reform the gun control laws. The Obama administration is drafting new legislation towards combating gun control. Nevertheless, the problem with guns was not apparent when the 2nd amendment was drafted. Hopefully, the new initiatives that are being drafted by the Department of Justice will inspire the Obama Administration to embrace tighter gun control and fight the gun lobbyist. Even though the 2nd amendment gives the right to bear arms, President Obama has an obligation to create a safer America. As insinuated by the stakeholders of the 2nd amendment successful arguments will make the new legislation tougher to pass with a Republican House. Therefore, any changes will be by way of an Executive Order, and not by an amendment change. The Executive Order will probably remain in limbo if a two-thirds vote is not achieved. Meanwhile, the law makers remained quite on the details of the changes. The Obama Administration authorized a core team to work through the complexities of the reform. The Attorney General and key stakeholders of the 2nd amendment are the core team. The team has a responsibility to establish common on the front end to seek out solutions on gun control without compromising...
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...always been a firm believer of the right to bear arms. Our birth as a nation began when colonial soldiers took up arms against the tyranny of the British empire. I believe firearms are needed and should always have a place in the United States. Unfortunately, gun lobbyist and other anti gun organizations are putting much unwanted pressure our inalienable rights. Being a gun owner has given me the opportunity to practice my 2nd amendment rights. I own a variety of firearms which range from side-arms to semi-automatic sporting rifles which lobbyist and even our new elected president call ?assault weapons?. In this speech, i will explain to you how gun control does not work, the benefits of firearms, and how you can protect your 2nd amendment rights. Need Step: 200 years ago when our founding fathers drafted the 2nd amendment, no one questioned private gun owenership. ?The Framers considered private firearms to be essential to protecting personal liberty, both as a means of opposing foreign threats and also as a check against excessive government power.?(3) Today, the way the American public perceives firearms is much different. Many Americans believe guns are the root of evil in the United States. Gun control lobbyist are trying to impose each and every possible law and...
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...Gun Control Laws in America Michael Turner Fayetteville State University English 120 Dr. Vicki F. Millspaugh-McKenzie 3/12/13 I feel that as an American we all are entitled to the “Right To Bear Arms” based on the Second Amendment. This is something that was giving to us by our forefathers, and shouldn’t be taking away. However, I do believe we need to set some parameters on guns are placed in people’s hands. Therefore I believe there should be tighter gun control laws in place. We do have the rights to bear arms but I do believe it should be monitor and restricted to some degree. This will help in decreasing the number of homicide and other gun related accidents. Gun control is a serious issue that most believe is saying take guns away from citizens; do not allow them to protect themselves. This is not what gun control is about. Gun control is “law controlling gun ownership: legal measures to license, control, or restrict the ownership of firearms by members of the public” (Encarta World Dictionary) This is why gun control is a topic people try to stay away from, because they don’t actually know what gun control really is and how it works. Gun control is so important because of the fact that it can tell who can control guns and who can’t. It enables us to know what can stop guns from going in the hands of convicted felonies and killers. This can be adjusted though because guns still make their way into felonies hands, and allow them to commit more crimes and...
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...Gun Control Stephen Devoid BCOM 275 July 3, 2013 Dean Clark Gun Control This topic of Gun Control is one of the most argued in this country. The article I read was written by Josh Sager. Mr. Sager’s paper covers what he calls 15 Pro-Gun” arguments and debunks them. His first argument is to address the 2nd Amendment and how he feels about people who believe that it was written for the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms are misinformed. Mr Sager writes. “Those who make this argument are misinformed as to the original intent of the 2nd Amendment and have either been tricked by the modern gun lobby’s marketing or are actively perverting its meaning” (Segar, 2012). Although Mr. Sager makes his point with a written quote from Chief Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger about his thought on the 2nd Amendment and its meaning on protecting every Americans right to own guns. “…one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word ‘fraud,’ on the American public by special interest groups that I’ve ever seen in my life time. The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies—the militias—would be maintained for the defense of the state. The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires.” What Mr. Segar fails to realize is the credibility of his source. Because another credible source the US Supreme Court, in 2008 declared...
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...Right to Bear Arms and The Second Amendment October 20, 2010 Should only the criminals be allowed to own guns that they buy from the Black-market? Ask yourself this question next time you vote. A coalition of gun control groups and some politicians are trying to get the Second Amendment changed so that millions of Americans can’t and won’t be able to own guns legally in the United States. The Second Amendment 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. The number of well-publicized public shootings during the past few years, especially the tragedy at Columbine High School, has re-energized the gun control movement. As a show of strength coalition of gun control groups have organized many protests. These types of events are designed to stir up emotions rather than promote rational thought. And when one looks at the facts about gun control, it's easy to see why the anti-gun lobby relies on emotion rather than logic to make its case. Some of their facts are: Thousands of children die annually in gun accidents. Actually the truth is that gun accidents involving children are actually at record lows, although you wouldn't know it from listening to the mainstream media. In 2008, the last year for which data are available, only 142 children under 15 years of age died in gun accidents, and the total number of gun-related deaths for this age group was 642. More children...
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...The 2nd Amendment, “The Right to Bear Arms” allows the population of the United States to be allowed access to fire arms. Various occasions have shown the 2nd Amendment needs a revision due to many tragic deaths that is caused by fire arms. Several years of research have pointed to a solution; stricter gun control laws will lower or get rid of gun related crime drastically. Stricter gun control laws can prevent many tragic events from happening and lower the amount gun related deaths and injuries, but not everyone is law bidding citizen. Despite what many claim, various sources indicate the Gun laws are like any other laws congress passes. Someone will break them and the number of incidents will grow. My argument is to show cases the dangers of having firearms, and banning them will be the correct choice. The various sources being used in my argument will elaborate on scenarios like...
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...The 2nd Amendment and the Battle for the Bill of Rights in the United States Christopher Jesus Moya CM220 College Composition II Kaplan University Over the last few years it seems that there has been a noticeable amount of gun crime making its way into the media and thus stirring up a debate on gun control. The government wants to make it seem like strict gun control is the answer to lower crime rates. However, we have the constitutional right to bear arms. Gun control laws will not effectively lower crime rates they will just make it more of a hassle for those who are law abiding citizens to get firearms because criminals that want to obtain firearms will start to find illegal ways to obtain them. There are many questions that can be brought up about gun control and whether or not it is infringing on our American Bill of Rights. It seems to be a huge topic of discussion and in modern America leads to a lot of debate. Some questions that we face on gun-control are as follows. If the government put in place stricter gun-control laws does it infringe on people’s rights to own guns? The current laws that are in place are they truly enforceable? Should the governments’ stricter gun laws prohibit gun sales at gun shows without background checks? Would more guns, not less, prevent shooting massacres or gun crimes like the Sandy Hook Shooting? Also, will banning assault rifles and high capacity magazines lessen gun-violence like so many would like to believe here in...
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...Whether it is the Washington Naval yard shooting, the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, Columbine or as recently as last week’s shooting in Oregon; American history has been inundated with deadly shootings. After every mass shooting, many Americans wonder if something could have been done to prevent these tragedies. The meaning of the 2nd Amendment comes to the forefront. The United States has the 2nd Amendment, gun laws and other protective amendments in the Constitution to give us the freedom we have fought for as Americans. I do not believe that the 2nd Amendment should be repealed or amended. The 2nd Amendment in the Constitution in short states the right to bear arms. When the colonists began to rise up against British authority, early American...
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...Are Guns a Good Thing or a Bad Thing Melissa Cushman Vincennes University Jasper Campus English 102 Professor Mayfield 15 April 2013 Are Guns a Good Thing or Bad Thing? Have you ever wondered why the media never shows anything positive that happens due to guns? Guns have never gone off by themselves on purpose. There is always a living person pulling that trigger. The government keeps trying to take away our guns when the President himself has armed security guards for him and his family. People need to take a stand for what they believe in and fight for their rights! The government should perform more extensive background checks instead of just taking the guns away. Guns should not be outlawed because “guns do not kill people; people kill people”. There has been much debate in our country about gun control and whether or not it is necessary. The event that brought all of the debates to the surface was the Sandy Hook shooting that happened on December 14, 2012. Following this tragic event, the country gave political figures and the President of the United States a reason to push for more control on this issue. Some of the biggest problems facing the American people are confiscation, stricter laws, and 2nd Amendment rights (Madison, 2013). When rumors came out that the government wanted to confiscate all of the guns in the country people became outraged. The ones that do not own guns to begin with of course supported this rumor which ended up becoming...
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...Essay on Gun Control for my English Class: Gun Control – Should We, Or Should We Not? The issue of gun control has come up recently as an important decision opportunity for our country. Many people are asking whether guns really are the helpful tool that many of us have been saying they are, or if they are the killing machines they have recently been publicized as. Gun Control: The Great Cop-out by Jared Machaud and Gun Control and the Constitution by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Andrew M. Grossman effectively display the anti-gun control side of this discussion; whereas The Second Amendment is all for Gun Control by Adam Winkler and Making Gun Control Happen by Patrick Radden Keefe display the pro-gun control side. In my views, guns are a helper in a time of crisis when help is too far away, or unwilling to come. Rather than put more restrictions on guns and gun owners, we should maintain the ability to protect ourselves and our fellow Americans through the use of firearms. As we take a look at the way gun control advocates are planning on enforcing gun control, you may start to even question why we would even contemplate using such tedious means. The idea that limiting the size of a magazine or regulating the type of gun you can purchase or even doing something as simple as a background check will stop murders like the Connecticut shooting from happening is ridiculous. In Making Gun Control Happen the author, Patrick Radden Keefe, writes as an advocate to gun control. He indicates...
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...a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”(2nd amendment, U.S Constitution) The framers of the Constitution wanted to create a government that was governed by the people. They felt the best way to control the government was through “checks” to make sure the government did not have too much power. The founders decided one way to check the government was to allow each citizen the right to bear arms. Originally, Section one; Article eight of the Constitution was written to give the Federal Government power to raise, organize and maintain a militia. This was vital to keeping the freedoms they had secured from Brittan. However, they did not want the Government to have “a standing army” that could impose on the rights of the people. On one side, the government had to be powerful enough to defend the country, but not so powerful that it would infringe on the liberty of the people. The leaders felt by allowing each person the right to bear arms would keep the government in check from imposing its will on the country. After the Constitution was written, the leaders had to convince each state to ratify the Constitution. Many of the states delegates were concerned about giving the central government too much power. The second amendment was one answer to the delegate’s concerns. More than two hundred years after the Constitution was ratified, gun sales have continued to increase over the years. Ammunition is more and more difficult...
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...Gun Control- Pro Gun control is the control of firearms so that crime will go down. Roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Most of these, 67 percent or 10,886 were committed with firearms. Even though people have the right to bear arms, as said in The Bill of Rights, there should be laws in place to limit the amount and types of firearms people can own. (www.justthefacts.com) Crime rates in the United States are way too high with most crimes such as robberies, assaults, and murders being committed with a gun. Kids have easy access to most guns that are in the house because they are not properly locked away. Kids may be interested in how the gun works and do not properly know how to use it. Some sort of accident happens where it fires and possibly kills someone . In 1994 Governor Weld of Massachusetts signed a law that banned handguns for anyone under the age of 21.The crime rate in Boston decreased . There needs to be laws in place to restrict the availability and types of guns that are legal to regular citizens. (www.proquest.com) www.youdebate.com). Gun Control relates to governmental issues because of the 2nd Amendment in the Constitution. There are two Principles of Democracy that gun control directly is related to, first is Individual Rights and Freedoms because it is a persons right to own any firearm that they so please. It also involves Limited Government. Many people will argue that people have the 2nd Amendment protecting...
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...02/07/2013 GOV 100 Paper Assignment #2 Gun Control: - S.150 - Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 Connecticut December 2012, a Bushmaster AR-15 assault weapon was involved in the deaths of twenty children. Colorado, an AR-15 assault rifle was involved in the killing of twelve innocent civilians at a movie theater. A TEC-DC 9, Hi-Point 995 Carbin, and a Savage 67H shotgun involved in killing eleven high school students along with one high school teacher in Colorado. The fundamental question here, is that why are such powerful assault weapons in the hands of civilians? Most Americans are against the possession of assault weapons in the hands of the civilians. Established in 1791, The 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights gives citizens the right to bear arms. The founding fathers had intended for American citizens to have the right to bear arms to protect themselves from a tyrannical government regime. Which was a legitimate concern during that time period that does not uphold presently. However, throughout history the American government makes changes to the constitution as the country goes through economic expansion and technological progress. A fine example is the 1965 voting act, which outlawed discriminatory voting. It was indeed a necessary and important act implemented to uphold the ideal of equality among all American citizens. As time and circumstances change, so must the terms and conditions that govern them. Essentially, the interpretation of the constitution must...
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...Gun Control A school is attacked by a madman and 26 people are shot and killed. A gunman enters a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and opens fire killing 12 and injuring 70 others. The obvious answer to prevent instances like this from happening is to tighten gun laws and restrict people from being able to get them easily-or is it? Over recent years several mass shootings have occurred across the country. Every time this happens, more restrictions and bans are placed on owners and sellers of firearms. Why is this the immediate reaction every single time an event like this occurs? Gun control is “The government regulation of the manufacture, sale and possession of firearms.” (thefreedictionary.com) This includes banning certain types of firearms, requiring people to register guns, and generally making it more difficult for citizens to own guns. In theory, this should work to stop the wrong people from getting their hands on guns; however, this is not often the case. Making more gun laws certainly prevents people from being able to obtain firearms. A question to ask though is would a criminal really be inclined follow the rules if he wanted to commit a mass shooting? Criminals often and easily find illegal ways of acquiring firearms if they want to cause trouble. This would leave the criminal with a weapon, and nobody else with one, thus allowing the criminal to commit a crime without anyone being able to stop him. Another reason that I disagree with gun control is that...
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