Second Amendment

The Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States grants the right to keep and bear arms. The amendment was adopted on December 15th, 1791, along with the first ten amendments which make up the Bill of Rights.

Text
"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."

Controversy
The issue of guns is a highly controversial one in America, as some people argue that guns are a God-given right by the Constitution. In response to the claim "Guns kill," a conservative may place a gun on a table and say, "Go ahead gun, kill. Go on." When the gun fails to kill by itself, the conservative will respond "See? Guns don't kill people; people kill people." There are many responses that can be made; one that will almost certainly end the conversation quickly is asking, "How about I pull the trigger and see if the gun is willing to spare your life?" At that point, there should hopefully be agreement that the gun should not be used.

The Founding Fathers of the United States lived in a time of muzzle-loading single-shot rifles that were rarely accurate beyond a range of 50 yards, and took between 30 seconds and a minute between firing a single round, depending upon the competence of the shooter. Firearms of their time did not even remotely approach the lethality of those that exist today. This is particularly true when compared to modern 'assault' weapons, which are designed from inception with the sole intent of KILLING human beings as quickly and efficiently as possible. Such weapons are not made for self-defense or whatever other crap the National Rifle Association (NRA) tries to spout; there's a reason they it's called an assault rifle and not a defense rifle. Had firearms been as advanced as they are today in 1787, the Founders of this country would likely have viewed gun legislation differently. Gun rights are an important part of American history and culture, and are one of the liberties that distinguish America from the other developed Western nations, which tend to have much stricter gun control laws. Generally, the right to possess guns is probably one that should be protected. But due to the extreme lethality of modern firearms, particularly automatic ones, it is unreasonable to suggest that regular citizens should be able to own any guns they want absent government regulation.

As a result of widespread proliferation of guns, America is plagued semi-regularly by violent shootings and massacres, the most notorious of which were the Columbine Massacre in 1999 and the Shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007. In fact, shootings occur regularly enough in America that if the death toll does not reach double-digits, the national media will unlikely pay lasting attention. Death tolls in both shootings were in double-digits (Columbine had 15 and Virginia Tech had 32), and both were perpetrated by suspects armed with semi-automatic weapons. In both cases, the victims were primarily teenagers and young adults. Had either situation involved fully-automatic firearms, the results would have likely been even more catastrophic. These events serve as a grim reminder of the high cost of the availability of guns in this country.

Different Interpretations
Conservatives tend to argue that the Second Amendment has no limitations, and that all guns should be made available. However, most people agree that restrictions on the the most dangerous guns is within the boundaries of the Constitution. If we had a complete handgun ban, just like Chicago and Washington DC did, the murder rate would plummet, but conservatives don't want that to happen.