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The Pros And Cons Of The Second Amendment

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When the U. S. Supreme Court issued its seminal rulings in Heller (2008) and McDonald (2010), finding that the Second Amendment does in fact guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms that must be recognized by the states, many Americans felt like the issue of the Second Amendment had finally been settled in America. Unfortunately, as we would quickly see in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere -- it was only the latest chapter in what has become an endless battle for the natural right of self-defense. Take, for instance, the District of Columbia’s post-Heller “fix” to its unconstitutional gun laws -- forcing citizens to obtain a license to carry firearms outside their home, but failing to provide any mechanism by which to obtain a license. In other jurisdictions, including Illinois and Seattle, officials attempted to create de facto gun bans by increasing the cost of ownership through taxes and fees, regardless of the impact on minority citizens. …show more content…

Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit all the more frightening. Despite the clear, well-reasoned rulings in Heller and McDonald, the 4th Circuit took the exact opposite approach in upholding Maryland’s “assault weapon” ban; and, in doing so, created an entirely subjective litmus test for what types of guns could be regulated by the State. The appellate Court found that Maryland’s ban of 81 firearms was “legal” because the guns were “weapons of war.” This conclusion is beyond laughable, insofar as U.S. military versions of such civilian firearms are capable of fully automatic fire, which the civilian versions at issue in the court case are not. The Fourth Circuit justices, like Bill Clinton with his 1994 “assault weapons” ban, chose to base its decision not on facts, history, or common sense, but on whether the firearms at issue “looked” like military-style firearms. “La La Land” wins

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The court summarily dismissed – with a paragraph of case citations – "the objection that the Act usurps police power reserved to the States". According to The U.S. v Miller Case, Revisited the cases cited showed that Congress could impose taxes as it saw fit, if such taxes were meant to raise meaningful amounts of revenue, even if the States had the powers to regulate possession of or commerce in the items in question. Justice McReynolds then dealt with the remaining matter, the scope of the Second Amendment. In a single paragraph the Court narrowly defined the issue. The question turned on the nature of the short-barreled shotgun: "In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a ’shotgun

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He cleverly directs the hateful attention towards the judges instead, as his cunningful diction implies that the decision the court had made was unappealing to those who supported the review of Maryland’s gun control law. Altogether, Barnes writes effectively enough to strongly and clearly exude his message to his readers, and with a compelling conclusion, he leaves open for his audience the opportunity to create their own thoughts and take action to what they believe

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860 Words | 4 Pages

Lopez, there was a five to four decision. There was a question that affected the case, is the Gun-Free School Zones Act illegitimate because it surpasses the Congress’ power under the Commerce Clause? To answer to the previous question, the majority opinion by William H. Rehnquist said “Yes. The possession of a gun in a local school zone is not an economic activity that might, through repetition elsewhere, have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. The law is a criminal statute that has nothing to do with "commerce" or any sort of economic activity.”

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One major issue I find with this opinion is the fact that there has never been any accredited research that states the banning of firearms has any positive affect on violence and crime. There is possibly even evidence that suggests the opposite. In summary Breyer and the other dissenting Justices believed that private self-defense was not fundamental to the principles of liberty and justice. Conclusion I found the outcome of this case to be interesting and am generally supportive of the majority opinion.

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276 Words | 2 Pages

January 14, 1990 appearing in Parade Magazine the article ‘The Right to Bear Arms’ by Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the United States, discusses gun violence in America, Gun regulations, and the Constitution. In the article Burger brings to light the massacres and deaths to support his stance on gun regulations, while supporting how important guns are to the American people. He mentions in his article the difference between “Saturday night Specials” and sporting guns, the state militias, and the history of 13 original colonies to show reader’s supporting facts and statistics for why America is needing gun regulations. “Many of our large centers have up to 10 times the murder rate of all of Western Europe. In 1988, there were 9000 handgun

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1335 Words | 6 Pages

In an attempt to steer the Court back in the right direction after the judicial misstep in Jones & Laughlin, the Court makes the clear distinction that the criminal statute (Gun-Free School Zones Act) in question “has nothing to do with ‘commerce’ or any sort of economic enterprise, however broadly one might define those terms.” Bringing up the central issue with the Jones & Laughlin case, Rehnquist further explains, “the Government admits, under its “costs of crime” reasoning, that Congress could regulate not only all violent crime, regardless of how tenuously they relate to interstate commerce.” In the Jones & Laughlin case, the central problem was the ability to connect anything with interstate commerce, no matter how indirect. The court, in this case, is limiting the scope of that interpretation by clearly demonstrating how criminal matters cannot line up with interstate commerce unless one piles inference upon inference. The Court further explains this issue by saying, “we would have to pile inference upon inference in a manner what would bid fair to convert congressional authority under the Commerce Clause to a general police power of the sort retained by the States.”

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To further explain the new discussions about assault weapons, this essay will examine the previous gun laws and the outcomes that it’s had on today’s

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904 Words | 4 Pages

The opinion about gun rights and the Second Amendment is consistently reflected in public opinion polls on gun ownership. For example, a Gallup poll conducted in 2008 demonstrated that 73 percent of respondents believed that the wording of the Second Amendment indicates a guarantee of private ownership as well as the formation of state militias (Gallup 2008). Take A Stand: On Gun Control 3.Argument 1 Legal opinion on the gun control issue seems divided, with both sides claiming victory. In some instances, both pro- and anti-gun advocates claim victory in the very same case. The case of United States v. Miller (1930), for example, is cited by the Brady Campaign (2007) as evidence of the courts’ interpretation in favor of gun possession by militia members only, whereas the same case is cited by the NRA (Tahmassebi 2000) as evidence of support for the constitutional guarantee of individual ownership.

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He points out that even the military understands that guns are dangerous and military weapons such as assault rifles are even more dangerous. These weapons are designed to do one thing-kill a large number of human beings quickly-as we witnessed in Orlando. Davis argues that the preamble to the Second Amendment, quoted in the introduction, was written with the idea those having arms would possess them and use them with a degree of military-like responsibility and when serving as militia. Because this is clearly not how circumstances have evolved, three “military-like” steps need to be

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511 Words | 3 Pages

Two years ago, in June of 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that District of Columbia’s law which banned its citizens from keeping a handgun in their home violated the Second Amendment, which protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. When looking back on this case, it must be noted that the Supreme Court did not clearly define whether or not the Second Amendment applied to the States, since the District of Columbia is a federal territory, run solely by Congress. Fast forward to today in Oak Park, which is a suburb of Chicago, they have laws in place that ban almost all citizens from possessing a handgun. Otis McDonald, Adams Orlov, Colleen Lawson, and David Lawson filed a suit against the city, stating this ban has left them without a proper tool for self-defense against criminals, and that it violates their Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

Do we need gun control laws,or should everyone own a gun for self- defense? The goal in this paper is to show why gun control is not the answer. The Second Amendment is not outdated. This Amendment has protected our rights and freedoms as citizens of the U.S.

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856 Words | 4 Pages

With the consistent occurrence of mass shootings and firearm violence, the topic of gun control remains a controversial issue in modern American society. A subfaction of this conversation is the role assault weapons play in the overall loss of life attributed to gun violence, and whether or not these types of firearms are protected under the second amendment. While both sides of this debate hold valid arguments, due to their intense militaristic capabilities and frequent role in mass shoots, a ban on all assault weapons should be enacted. The first problem that arises when discussing assault weapons is the fact that there is no definitive definition of what classifies as an assault weapon.

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1850 Words | 8 Pages

Gun control has been a prominent topic of debate in recent years, as concerns regarding mass shootings, gun violence, and public safety have increased. The conversation around this issue has been characterized by strong opinions and divergent perspectives. At the forefront of this discussion are two prominent organizations: the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Administration (ATF). Both the NRA and the ATF have significant influence over gun laws and regulations, and they often find themselves on opposite sides of the debate. One of the primary arguments put forth by the NRA is centered around the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

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748 Words | 3 Pages

The media’s coverage of firearms being used in an illegal manner has brought the subject of gun control into political agendas. Political views regarding firearms regulation range from reducing the number and type of firearms available to making firearms more available through the loosening of current regulation. The reduction of firearms would make the illegal acquisition more difficult but would restrict the law abiding citizen’s access greater. On the other hand, reducing current regulations favor the law abiding citizen while making it easier to acquire a firearm for illegal purposes. Reduction of firearms violence by state and federal legislation must be balanced by protecting the individual right to bear arms while simultaneously protecting the public.

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799 Words | 4 Pages

This essay addresss the ineffectiveness of various laws and solutions proposed by gun control advocates. Almost every massacre involving guns has occurred in an area commonly referred to as a “gun-free zone.” As the name implies, in all of these areas, law-abiding citizens cannot equip themselves with any firearm to use for personal defense. To a criminal, this is a target-rich environment similar to the way a wolf may feel in a field of unsupervised sheep. The movie theatre in Aurora, CO, where a sole criminal ended his shooting spree with 82 casualties, was a

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