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“ In a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. – Second Amendment of Constitution When discussing the second amendment of the Constitution, both sides of the argument need to be given. One side says that the amendment that protects the ownership of guns is simply a law left over from Revolutionary days. They believe that this law has no meaning today because we have such organizations as the Army or the Navy. This argument may seem like it is valid, but the amendment is about more than just the ownership of a firearm, it’s about freedom. The other pro-amendment side of the argument is that the second amendment secures, not only the right to own a firearm, but also the right to ensure our freedom. The freedom talked about in the second amendment goes further to mean that we have the freedom to engage in civil disobedience, our reserved right to disagree with certain laws that we find civilly or morally wrong. A strict constructionists, or pro-second amendment argument, would hold that the right of self-protection is inalienable. This means that it cannot be taken away because it comes from God. The right to protect oneself and ones family is as natural to a free man as free speech and free assembly are. In fact, strict constructionists argue that the insertion of the second amendment into the Constitution by Ant-Federalists does just that. Another pro-amendment argument is that the amendment itself preserves, by its small nature, all the other freedoms we have. The words “shall not be infringed” ask: infringed by whom? The answer is the federal government. The Constitution was written to place limitations on the federal government. The framers knew that if the federal government had too much power it could develop into a tyrannical system of government. The framers looked at countries in Europe and noted that most governments there permitted the ownership of firearms only to a standing army. James Madison and the Anti-Federalists insisted that the right to keep and bear arms be placed in the constitution right behind the first amendment.
Approximate Word count = 1398
Approximate Pages = 5.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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