Argumentative Essay: Constitutional Right Or Wrong

Buck Maples
Government
April 18, 2013
Constitutional Right……or Wrong The newspaper headlines read: “26 Dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School”, “Shooter Opens Fire in Colorado Theater. 16 Dead, 58 Wounded”, “U.S. Representative Giffords Shot in Safeway Parking Lot”, Columbine, Virginia Tech…….the list could go on and on. There is no doubt that gun violence is prevalent in society today, which is why the topic of guns and gun control is being argued across the nation. There are compelling arguments for both sides of this debate, but the ultimate principal of gun ownership is written within our Bill of Rights in the form of the Second Amendment stating an individual’s right to bear arms. Gun control infringes upon the basic constitutional…show more content…
A national report conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of the U. S. Department of Interior, found that approximately 14 million individuals over the age of 16 were self-identified as hunters, and that over 12 million used shotguns, rifles, or handguns while hunting. For many citizens in some parts of the country guns and hunting is a way of life. Some schools even allow hunting education classes where there are twenty or more students that express and interest. The government also found that hunters age 16 and over spent more than $3 billion on firearms in 2011 and spent $1.3 billion on ammunition. Approximately 52 percent of all hunters went target shooting in 2011 and 22 percent went to skeet shooting ranges. Therefore, gun sports are a popular form of recreation, and provide a flood of money into the local economy. A huge opponent for anti-gun legislation and lobbyist in Washington, the National Rifle Association, was organized in 1871 by two Union officers who wanted to promote rifle shooting. The NRA has since become one of the biggest and most powerful non-governmental organizations in the country. It works to protect personal firearm rights and hunting rights, promotes shooting as a sport, and sponsors educational programs on firearm safety. Recreational shooting is no different or no less safe than recreational archery, and…show more content…
This is the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights 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” (1791). Throughout various political systems, the one constant of a tyrannical government has been the disarming of citizens. Thomas Jefferson once famously said: “No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny in government.” The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1791, as a direct result of the Revolutionary War; without access to weapons, the colonists would not have been able to defeat the British troops (Lunger). When the government begins to regulate which guns we can use, how many bullets we can load, the procedure used to purchase a gun, with background checks and waiting periods, it is only a matter of time before they take guns away entirely. However, the opponents don’t seem to argue this point, s that the intended purpose of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is to empower U.S. residents to resist governmental tyranny. The controversy is whether that empowerment is intended to be on an