Second Amendment the Right to Bear Arms

Introduction

“Right to bear arms” is the concept that people have a personal right to weapons for personal use, or a combined right to bear arms in a militia, or both. (Halbrook 2009) The meaning of the Second Amendment depends upon who you talk to. The National Rifle Association, which has the Second Amendment (minus the militia clause) engraved on its headquarters building in Washington, insists that the Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to possess and carry a wide variety of firearms. Advocates of gun control contend that the Amendment was only meant to guarantee to States the right to operate militias. For almost seventy years following its cryptic decision of U.S. vs. Miller in 1939, the Court ducked the issue, finally to resolve the question in its much anticipated 2008 decision, District of Columbia v Heller.

Discussion

Video simulation is the best way to help overcome the natural resistance most people have towards shooting another individual. Studies show people are extraordinarily susceptible to programming. There are a lot of truths that need to be established about guns, the first one being guns do not cause crime. There is no relationship between the number of guns and the amount of crime in the US. Between 1973 and 1992, the rate of gun ownership increased while the homicide rate during that period fell. Also, gun control laws do not reduce crime anyway. Firearms have not been regulated in the US for most the past 30 years. The number of them in private hands has increased continually by millions per year. Yet the rate of crime, violent crime, and homicide has shown no significant correlation. Gun control doesn't stop friends from killing friends either (Hardy 12-17).

Most murderers and victims of homicides have criminal records and are likely to have other criminals as friends. While it is true in many cases, the offender and victim know each other; it is not true that these “friends killing friends” are the plain ordinary folks often portrayed in the antigun propaganda. Also, those required waiting periods would not actually prevent some of the most vicious crimes (Davis 451-477). The Brady Bill waiting period imposes a waiting period on handguns, the least deadly type of firearm, while imposing no such restriction on more deadly weapons such as rifles and shotguns.

Guns work as self-defence against these criminals. They are about as valuable to civilians as they are to police officers.

As many as 65 lives are protected by guns for every life lost to a gun. Every year potential victims kill between 2,000 and 3,000 criminals, and wound an additional 9,000 to 17,000. Private Citizens mistakenly kill innocent people only thirty times a year, compared to about 310 mistaken killings by police. Criminals succeed in taking a gun away from an armed victim less than 1% of the time (Hawkins 207-230). Therefore, guns are needed for self-protection.

Approximately 83% of the population will be victims in their lives, and there is only ...