Gun Control
The second amendment is one of the most hotly debated amendments in the U.S. today. Stating "A well regulated militia, being necessary to security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." In a society that has become far different that that of our founding fathers, we find it hard to draw the line between constitutional rights and personal rights. Each year in the United States, more than 35,000 people are killed by guns, a death rate much higher than in any other industrial nation. Attacks involving a gun are five times more likely to result in a death than similar attacks made with a knife. In 1992 guns were the weapon used in approximately two-thirds of the murders in the United States. However, gun control laws are controversial. While gun control laws may decrease criminals' access to guns, the same laws restrict law-abiding citizens. About half of all U.S. families own at least one gun. The most frequent motives for gun ownership are protecting the home, hunting or target shooting, and collecting. Gun control laws aim to reduce the criminal use of guns as much as possible while not putting large burdens on legitimate gun users. (Encarta 99 p.1) However, with each horrific
The current militia movement is based on a tradition of local and civil control and suspicion of centralized federal power. by the middle of the 21st century, says Robert Spitzer, professor of Political Science at SUNY Cortland and author of The Politics of Gun Control. Miller, the high court assumed the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. 2-3)The so-called "Brady Law," which went into effect in 1994, provides a five-day waiting period to allow local law enforcement officials to make sure the purchaser is qualified to own a handgun. Should this come to pass, it may weaken the NRA enough to pass some meaningful gun control laws. However, the courts have never struck down a gun control law because of this provision, in part because they have interpreted the Second Amendment as applying only to militia weapons; nonetheless, the Second Amendment has been an important part of the debate on gun control. , violent event, more questions rise concerning our Second Amendment. Since the late 1980s, many people have proposed adding some semiautomatic rifles and pistols to the list of restricted high-risk weapons. The law also established a $200 federal firearm license fee and a $90 annual license renewal fee. Miller ruling, which sprang from the arrest of two men for transporting an unregistered, double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun across state lines, the Supreme Court said the "obvious purpose" of the Second Amendment was to "assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness" of the militia. "Whenever I speak to civic groups on this subject, I find that what they want is already state law," he said. 3) No doubt our desire for the safety of our families and homes will continue to struggle with our long lived desire for a non-centralized government.
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