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Second Amendment Dbq

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Was the Second Amendment Designed to Protect an Individual’s Right to Own Guns?

People have a lot of different views of if the Second Amendment really was designed to protect an individual’s right to own guns. Robert Shalhope believes that the Second Amendment helped Americans to own guns so that they could maintain freedom and liberty. Lawrence Delbert on the other hand believes that the second amendment was made just for “well-regulated militia.” The well-regulated militia in our day and age would be more like cops or the armed forces, anybody protecting over the people of America. The Second Amendment can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. These two authors have two opposite views on the Second Amendment and what it says. Each …show more content…
Guns are meant just for the local militia so that they can help protect the people of America. The militia was not only protecting from other rulers but also from people turning against each other. When men get guns and ammunition they may turn against each other, “Only the militia could be counted upon to protect both the territory and the liberties of free people” (118). Each state wrote up the same but slightly different documents saying that men have the right to bear arms to defend their state. In writing the Second Amendment, the men debated for a long time about how to word the document. In the end, it said, “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 fringed” …show more content…
Robert Shalhope seemed to be more on point with how people think today (at least in the south). Lots of people see the Second Amendment as a way to protect their rights to bear arms and not just for the army or police to have guns. When the Second Amendment talks about trained men having the right to bear arms, it could be talking about more than just the militia. The Second Amendment could be referring to any man that has been trained either by militia or personal training. When a man has training, they should have the right to own guns to protect their property. Lawrence Cress thinks that only militia have the right to own guns in order to protect the people around them. Both of these arguments come from Second Amendment they just have both taken different stances of how they view what the Second Amendment really says. It can always be up for debate for what the Second Amendment really says but seeing the world we live in today, I think the Second Amendment says we do have to right to bear arms as an individual. As long as a person is trained before purchasing a gun they should be allowed to buy one for their own

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