The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control Laws

In 1791 James Madison declared that United States citizens should possess the right to bear arms to maintain a free state (Hornberger). Many Americans question what this founding father meant and which guns this included. The Second Amendment ensured that the citizens of the new republic could fight against future tyrannies (Hornberger). The first significant gun control law passed in 1934 placed tax restrictions on weapons favored by mobsters (Lewis). Since this act passed, the United States added several major gun control laws, each making obtaining a firearm more complex (“Concealed”). Strict gun laws negatively affect law-abiding citizens by making it harder to own and purchase firearms; therefore, gun control remains ineffective and unconstitutional.

Most Americans who call for gun control want existing laws, such as FBI background checks or a ban on military-grade weapons (Lewis). Civilians do not use military-grade weapons; instead, they commonly use the following: semi-automatic rifles, hunting rifles, shotguns, and handguns (“Gun”). Americans today call for a ban on assault weapons without asking, “What is an assault weapon” (Hornberger)? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, an assault weapon is a “military firearm that is chambered for ammunition of reduced size or propellant charge, and that can switch between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire” (“Assault”). An automatic weapon is a firearm that does not stop firing until the user lifts their finger or the magazine empties (“Gun”). Laws banning automatic weapons have existed in the United States since 1994 (“Gun”). This offers just one example of a call for gun control that already exists; others include the ban on all weapons used in the military (“Self-defense”). Civilians cannot purchase military-grade firearms

First off, What is an amendment? An Amendment acts as a permanent law of the United States via the Constitution or the Bill of Rights (Lewis). The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms which, in layman's terms, means to own a firearm (“Assault”). A new law must pass through several different government officials and all three branches of government, ending at the Judicial Branch. The Judicial Branch interprets the rules and decides if it contradicts any present laws (Hornberger). Current plans for gun control violate the Second Amendment because they unlawfully strip the right to bear arms from citizens. The Second Amendment does not say “ the right to bear arms unless the country changes its mind in the future”; instead, the founding fathers put this amendment in place to stop tyrannical governments (“Gun”). Since the United States is a republic, power remains with the states, allowing states to make laws. When states choose which laws to add and take away, this leads to a state, like one of the twenty-five states, that forbids concealment and carry without a permit (“Concealed”). Gun control laws hinder Americans’ freedom by illegitimately restricting the right to have a