The 2nd Amendment, is it a guarantee?

When the Bill of Rights was written in 1791 there was included in it the 2nd Amendment which states, "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". [http://www.law.cornell.edu]

At the time it was written the U.S. government could not afford to support an army to defend against foreign threats,

I am a firm supporter of the Constitution and I believe that the founding fathers had good intentions for the decisions they made writing the Constitution. Unfortunately there was no way they could have foreseen the events that would take hold in this country throughout its history. A prime example is the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights, it may be a small part of the Bill but it has taken a large part of the attacks on the Bill. I feel that measures such as the Brady Bill are a major leap towards humanity but at the same time are a small step towards communism. Its no wonder that the Bill took seven years to make it through, no one wanted to be the butcher of free society. The only Good thing that came out of the Brady Bill was the mandatory waiting period; at least that would stop felons from legally purchasing firearms. Although some good has come from gun control in the past, I can not see what good total gun control over our society would serve.

In an ever-growing and more diverse society the need for personal protection grows as well as the need for some sort of control on guns. Our Nation, as long as we can remember, has focused around guns stemming from the need for survival, personal protection, or for the protection of ones honors. A prime example of protecting ones honors was played out between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton; the two dueled over slanderous comments Hamilton had made about Burr during a presidential campaign. Hamilton was shot and killed by Burr on July 12, 1804. Since dueling was not a widely opposed event, Burr was never formally charged for the death of Hamilton. [Bernards, 1991]

In 1994, Congress enacted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which put a ban on all military assault style weapons. That same year the Youth Handgun Safety Act was passed which banned the possession of firearms to anyone under the age of eighteen. It also provided for the imprisonment of up to ten years of anyone caught selling or providing such to minors.

There are many lobbyist groups that present proposals to Congress each year to make amendments to the Bill of Rights that would suppress the 2nd Amendment. Among the groups opposing the 2nd Amendment are the Coalition against Gun Violence with an average membership of 75,000 and Handgun Control Inc. (HCI) with an average membership of about 300,000. [Roleff, 1997] These are dwarfed in comparison to the National Rifle Association (NRA), wh

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Approximate Word count = 1656
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)