With the recent shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX, attention has been focused on the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. What do you think of it?
The text reads, in full:
“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.”
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Does this amendment signify a deep-seated right for individuals to bear arms? Is it an antiquated holdover from years ago? Does the vague language help or hurt it?
You don’t need to be a constitutional scholar to hold an opinion. What is yours?
Related questions: How can we encourage debate? Personal Rights or Public Safety? When should you not follow the law? How can we be safe?
First, we no longer have a citizenry-based militia. We have professional armed forces responsible for the security of the State. Second, even if we did have a militia, it says right in the amendment that it would be “well regulated.” These points are the basis for the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
Listen, I’m not saying the government should come and grab your hunting shotgun or rifle. But I quite honestly can’t see why this right needs to be explicitly stated in the Constitution anymore. It makes no sense in modern times. Our Founders, deeply-flawed elites who did not possess crystal balls, could have never imagined the weapons of war we allow individuals to own these days.
The Second Amendment is an unnecessary relic — a relic that is, in part, responsible for many innocents getting killed every day in this country.
Many people who offer full-throated support for the Second Amendment do so in the name of safety. If an armed intruder invades their home, they want to be able to defend it, and protect their family.
The great irony is that owning a gun does not actually make you safer. Gun owners very rarely stop armed invaders. Rather, a gun in the home actually makes it much more likely that someone will be killed, either by accident, or suicide, or domestic violence. Owning a gun only makes you *feel* safer (although I admit, that is a powerful feeling).
The Second Amendment is part of the U.S. Constitution, so it needs to be taken seriously. However, in my opinion, the definition of “Arms” in the text of the amendment that reads, “to keep and bear Arms” needs to be re-examined.
I agree that guns need to be better regulated – such as background checks on all purchases. The Congress has been remiss on this because of their inability to compromise. But, to me the Second Amendment means that the citizenry should be able to fight any invaders. While the need for such an occasion seems far-fetched, history (even recent history) tells us that it could happen. Think of Ukraine. The world is coming to their aid, but who would come to the U.S. aid if Russia or any other group attacked us here? We are a spread-out country and the military can’t be everywhere. Regarding the school shootings, they didn’t happen before the last few decades. What made it change?