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The Pros And Cons Of The Second Amendment

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The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "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." Such language has created considerable debate regarding the Amendment's intended meaning. For example, some people believe that the Amendment's phrase "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms" creates an individual constitutional right for citizens of the United States. Under this "individual right theory," the United States Constitution restricts legislative bodies from banning or prohibiting the owning of firearms, or at the very least, the Amendment indirectly states that getting rid of or restricting citizens who own these types of weapons is unconstitutional. On the other hand, some scholars believe that because of …show more content…
Many people have shared their beliefs over this Amendment through newspaper or magazine articles.
The Second Amendment is a rather large subject of controversy at this time because of recent mass murders and shootings. One article, written by Bret Stephens (website stated in bibliography and on graphic organizer) gives an interesting perspective about the Second Amendment and what it is leading to and indirectly creating in society today (he is against the Second Amendment and believes it should be taken out of the Constitution). A few of his main points are; “From a law-and-order standpoint, more guns means more murder. ‘States with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides,’ noted one exhaustive 2013 study in the American Journal of Public Health. From a personal-safety standpoint, more guns means less safety. The F.B.I. counted a total of 268 “justifiable homicides” by private citizens involving firearms in 2015; that is, felons killed in the course of committing a felony. Yet that same year, there were 489 “unintentional firearms deaths”

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