The Second Amendment

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The Second Amendment

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution states that a properly controlled militia is essential to ensure a free state’s safety (Halbrook, 2019). In other words, the amendment protects US citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms, and those rights should not be infringed. The amendment was ratified in December 1991 (Halbrook, 2019). My opinion on the Second Amendment is the government should control citizens against firearms possession. Gun control means legal jurisdiction in an attempt to restrain the use or possession of munitions. The vast majority of the developed nations have strict gun laws and are not controversial. In the United States, gun control is a fraught political matter. It has somewhat resulted in conflict between those who view it as a prerequisite for their safety against those regarding it less significant and dangerous infringement of personal liberty.

Between the years 1999 to 2016, the United States registered 572,000 deaths directly linked to gun deaths. The numbers represent 336,000 cases of suicides, 213,000 homicides, and 11,000 unintentional deaths. The leading cause of homicide and suicide deaths was guns, representing 67% and 51% of all homicides and suicides, respectively (Steelesmith et al. 2019). Those for strict gun laws believe that enacting laws restricting civilians against possession of firearms will significantly mitigate such deaths (Wozniak, 2017). It is estimated that restricting civilians from ammunition purchases would substantially reduce gun violence deaths by approximately 80%, not to mention that the gun identification necessity could reduce it by about 82%.

Those against gun laws ratification and some have studied, have stated that banning of assault weapons had no impact on the rate of murder at the state level. The US had seen Gun ownership increased since the 20th century, and still, those numbers are skyrocketing, and so do the murder rates is decreasing. Offenders will be more fearful of targeting armed individuals, thus reducing the rates of crimes. I think having strict gun control is right since some civilians always think of assaulting others on the advantage that they have guns. Gun laws will always be a controversial issue in the US due to the vast cultures and how some communities view others as threats.

References

Halbrook, S. P. (2019). The Founders’ Second Amendment: origins of the right to bear arms. Rowman & Littlefield.

Steelesmith, D. L., Fontanella, C. A., Campo, J. V., Bridge, J. A., Warren, K. L., & Root, E. D. (2019). Contextual factors associated with county-level suicide rates in the United States, 1999 to 2016. JAMA network open, 2(9), e1910936-e1910936.

Wozniak, K. H. (2017). Public opinion about gun control post–Sandy Hook. Criminal justice policy review, 28(3), 255-278.