Gun ownership is constitutionally protected in the United States, embedded in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which 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," (Bill of Rights, 1789). The interpretation of this constitutional right has become the topic of heated debate in the United States. As the Library of Congress points out, the meaning of the Second Amendment is "not self-evident," as are many items in the Constitution that were written, deliberately or not, in a vague manner that left matters up to future interpretations of the law by the judiciary. While other countries in the world find the American gun control issue perplexing, Americans continue to grapple with how to form and defend their own personal militias.
The Supreme Court has ruled on several Second Amendment cases, always upholding the validity of the Second Amendment and never questioning its efficacy as part of the Constitution. After all, the United States was founded on the principles of freedom and liberty and that does mean that individuals do have the right to take up arms against their government or against anyone else they perceive to be a threat. Americans also have the right to commit suicide, which accounts for sixty percent of all gun-related deaths (Masters, 2016). One of the most recent Supreme Court rulings related to the Second Amendment was in the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the Court struck down a local Washington, D.C. handgun restriction law. Thus, while states and municipalities can pass laws that restrict, regulate, or control gun sales or possession, they cannot pass laws that completely and outright ban the sale or possession of firearms.
For radical groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA), gun ownership and sales has become much more than about protecting the Second Amendment from being infringed upon. The Second Amendment is safe. Liberals who advocate for gun control rarely, if ever, request that the Second Amendment be revoked or even amended, only that it be interpreted differently and in accordance with evidence, facts, science, and reason.
The NRA and Rabid Unreasonableness
The NRA (2016) has become an organization that reflexively opposes any type of gun control or gun regulation. Commentators like Davidson (2015) use logical...
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GUN CONTROL & PUSH FOR GUN CONTROL Surname The research paper is on gun control and the push for gun control. To respond to the topic the paper first lays down in the first paragraph basic concepts of the gun control ideals and the pro-gun movement. The introduction explores the basic tenets and motivations of the pro-gun and gun control activists in America. The paper uses the motivation and opposition of both
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