To Bear Arms

Submitted By Em-VanDam
Words: 1706
Pages: 7

To Bear Arms or Not to Bear Arms. That is the Question.

In the light of current events, people have come to the opinion that the government should restrict an individual’s right to possess a variety of firearms. There are many reasons why this opinion must be invalidated. As an American citizen, one should have the right to bear arms because the Constitution states that anyone’s rights to bear arms shall not be infringed, one is guaranteed the right to protect and defend himself from foreign invaders, and gun restrictions on those that already follow the law haven’t worked and won’t work.
First, American citizens should have the right to bear arms because the Constitution states that their rights to own a gun shall not be infringed upon (Reuters). The Second Amendment was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and based on the right for the English to keep and bear arms through the hard times they endured such as the depression and their need to defend the state they lived in (DiMauro 3-4). It is true though that over the last 200 years or so, criminals have taken advantage of the law to bear arms. However there is nowhere in the Constitution that states government has a right to confiscate all of somebody’s weapons. In the extreme case of criminals, each state has contractual rights made between the state and the man consenting to the contract in order to restrict or disable crimes from happening (Kiger).
If the Founding Fathers were alive today, they may conclude that the people of the United States of America have taken a license to what the Second Amendment shapes; the Second
Amendment restricts the powers national government and gives Americans the right to carry arms for the sake of their own protection (Nicholas). The U.S., claims that every citizen free, and

to an extent, that freedom includes the right to bear arms. Richard Henry Lee, Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress and Initiator of the Declaration of Independence, said that it is essential that the people always have the right to carry arms and should be taught at a young age how to use them in order to preserve liberty (Hatch). What Lee is trying to say in his speech, is America shouldn’t have the fear of their government, but should be confident and ready in their gunmanship when handed a firearm.
Secondly, one is guaranteed the right to protect and defend oneself from “foreign” invaders. After the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 where 20 children and 7 adults died in Newtown, Connecticut, gun control has been pushed to the limit, and many people have tried to outlaw guns (Barron). After this event, a January 2013 Associated Press poll found that 58 percent of Americans want stricter gun control laws, and 55 percent want a ban on so-called assault weapons (Kiger). Texas Senator Ted Cruz called these recent gun control proposals made after the Newtown shooting "unconstitutional (Horowitz).” The government is trying to make it so that nobody has a right to own a gun of any kind under any circumstance which is illogical (Horowitz).
It is illogical for the government to take away the gun rights of Americans because if the firearms are ever confiscated, citizens would be defenseless against lawless individuals and foreign nations and even their own government, if the government were to ever turn on them (Hatch). If an intruder breaks into someone’s home with an intent to harm a loved one, without a doubt, they would want a gun to protect those around them. On January 2nd, 17th, and 21st 2014 in Florida, houses were broken into and robberies backfired because the families in danger carried guns in their homes (Dart). For all one knows, the owners could have been killed by the robbers had they not had a firearm in their house to protect themselves.
People seem to think it is the gun that kills people, but not once has anyone seen a firearm stand up and shoot another person. There is always a person behind the gun