10/3- The Constitution

“I am not sure this amendment envisioned the kind of gun toting that is permitted across this country in the last decade. The Second Amendment acknowledged the vulnerability of a nation in its infancy, but could not predict a world where some would move through life feeling more like targets than citizens.” (Melynda Price)



The second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects people rights to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment was intended, as it clearly state, to create a well-controlled militia that will protect the state. Now days we do not have a need for militia due to the fact that we have a very powerful Army. It is Mrs. Price beliefs that when the second amendment was adopted no one could have envisioned how far people would take the right to bear arms.  Mrs. Price believes that the second amendment was appropriate in those time when it was first adopted. When the U.S. was at its early stages there was a need for a local militia to protect the state from its enemies but our country has matured and grew through the centuries and in today world this amendment will creat fear in people who see themselves as sitting doc.
The Bill of Rights is basically a list of amendments like any other, written in a very different time. When we look into this amendment we must ask ourselves if this amendment is still relevant to our current times? And if it’s not relevant as Mrs. Price suggest why are we still endorsing it?
Many will argue that the right to bear arms go far beyond our right to protect ourselves but that it is our god given right to bear arms. Even though guns can be a useful way to protect people in case of self-defense , the evidence shows that their presence in the homes makes people more venerable, not less.  Studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that firearms in the home place put people in a greater risk. A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used to kill or injure in a domestic homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense.  In the past 20 years, there have been many shooting in schools and malls that cost many lives. With all this information at hand, why are we so reluctant to discuss an outright ban on guns?  One might say that the reason there is no serious discussion about gun restriction or banning guns is due to the fact that any major legislation that the N.R.A. opposed has little to no chance in  passage. Any bill that will come from the Senate would face stiff opposition from the Republican-controlled House. The opposition to harsh restrictions comes from the fear that any restriction will one day lead to the loss of the right to bear arms. Another reason could be the fact that Guns are part of our history, part of our culture and for that reason some people can not seriously accept limiting gun ownership. while acknowledging our past, we must also acknowledging our present and start talking about the reasons why we must limit the access people have to guns.