The Second Amendment and Gun Control In the aftermath of the recent Parkland shooting, an ongoing debate has risen to the forefront of American politics. This debate concerns the meaning of the Second Amendment and its relationship to gun control, and has many implications for the future of gun laws in America. The original reasons for the formation of the Second Amendment are outdated, and this makes the modern interpretation of the law important to the future of gun legislation in America. The Second Amendment consists of a single sentence; “A well regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This sentence was added as an amendment to the U.S. constitution …show more content…
The primary purpose of these militias were to defend against invasions, and, importantly, to act as a bulwark against governmental tyranny(Waldman). This is the reason for the inclusion of the words “A well regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state”, because before the Second Amendment was created, anti-federalists pointed to European monarchies as an example of the way governments can control their citizens when the general population is disarmed. The anti-federalists argued that if the populace is armed, a government's standing army will be unable to subjugate the people(Lund). The second part of the Second Amendment has been the subject of debate since the 1950’s. It reads; “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” When the Second Amendment was written, the “overwhelming use of the phrase “bear arms”...referred to military activities”(Waldman), as opposed to “bearing arms” in the context of carrying a weapon for self defense. This was because citizens primarily used their weapons for hunting and militia service, and in many areas, firearms were strictly regulated, with towns in the