Gun Control
SOC/100
January 7, 2014
Siri Shankar-Anderson
Gun Control
The Bill of Rights is comprised of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. There was overwhelming opposition to the original constitution by the states, due to the lack of guarantees of an individual’s civil liberties. James Madison presented a series of legislative articles to address these concerns. These articles later became official amendments to the constitution in 1791. One of the foremost concerns of congress was the liberty of bearing arms. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects an individual’s right to keep and bear firearms. The tyrannical rule of the British parliament is what brought about the conception of the second amendment. It was designed to deter undemocratic and oppressive governing bodies from forming and to defend from impending invasions. It also suppresses insurrections, allows for participation in upholding the laws, enables U.S. citizens to form militias in defense of the nation, and provides the natural right to self-defense. (Constitution, 2013) The interpretation of the second amendment has been controversial to say the least.
Since the conception of the second amendment, the advancement in the technology of firearms has made leaps and bounds. The U.S. and State governments have been applying restrictions to the second amendment by establishing local and national laws to control the use of firearms. The Semi-automatic and automatic weapon in various calibers was originally designed for combat use for the protection of the United States. This type of weapon migrated to law enforcement use, to allow police officers a fair chance to fight the growing use of these more advanced weapons by criminals. Unfortunately the misuse of firearms by law breaking citizens has resulted in changes to our national and state firearm laws that affect the law abiding citizens. It is argued by some that the creation of gun...