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. (Source)
The Second Amendment (part of the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791)is perhaps the most abused, debated and known Amendment. I honestly thought about skipping this one till the end, but in the end decided to stick to the order they came in.
I’m pro-gun control. I am not however against people having guns. I’ve always believed this law is about being able to form a community militia. It does not bother me that people own guns. Some people hunt, some people use it for protection. I do however think that there are some common sense gun laws that could go into affect that don’t affect one’s right to bear arms.
Both sides use this one a lot. The Pro-gun lobby seems to believe that any form of gun-control (even something as restricting gun magazine sizes) is an infringement. The Pro-Gun control group has many facets ranging from the mid-grounders like myself who just want tighter background checks, better regulation of gun ownership (basically making sure people who buy guns actually know how to use them) to the stricter varieties who want guns gone all together outside militia groups.
This Amendment protects the right of the citizen to protect themselves from military take-over. It protects the right of small militia groups to form. It’s debatable if it protects against certain guns (Like AK-47s and more militaristic weapons) being regulated.
It also brings up the debate of whether Amendments can be timeless. That some laws/Amendments might have to be altered, as technology improves and the country as a whole realises the original intent needs adjusting (there are several amendments which are basically doing just that).
This is a hot button issue.
My personal belief is that one should only have the guns you need to protect yourself and/or hunt. Unless you are some collector getting antique guns, you really don’t need to arm yourself like you are your own one-person militia. And if you want a gun, you should take the time to learn how to properly use it, clean it and store it. I see way too many stories on the news about people accidently getting shot because they didn’t clean it right, or they didn’t store it right and some kid got into it, or they did something stupid and ended up shooting their foot off.
I know people who believe the opposite, ranging from more open about gun use to those who make me wish guns were taken away so they didn’t have them. I also believe this Amendment protects your right to own a gun, not your right not to have guns safety laws and regulations.
Sokorra Lewis 