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Essay: Learn from Tragic History: Why the U.S. Should Not Bear Arms

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  • Reading time: 3 minutes
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  • Published: 6 December 2019*
  • Last Modified: 22 July 2024
  • File format: Text
  • Words: 821 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 4 (approx)

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If the founding father could have looked into the future and see AK-47s and Glock semi-automatic pistols, I think they would say, you know, 'That's not really what we mean when we say bear arms.' In the article by Garrett Epps “The Spectacularly Unhelpful Second Amendment,” he writes that the 2nd amendment is the most controversial amendment to the Bill of Rights and is also the most confusingly worded which makes more complicated that one might think. The United State of America should not bear arms because of the abuse and misuse of these weapons, it is not what the 2nd amendment was intended for, and the increase of senseless gun violence. 

  First of all, gun control is one of the most divisive issue in America. The abuse and misuse of any kind of weapon is happening more often than anyone thinks. There a lot flaws in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, even the lawmakers from both parties acknowledge that errors in the background check system that let felons obtain guns. According to United State Census Bureau, the population of the USA is around 327 million and there are 300 million guns which mean there is is more gun in The United State of American than there are people, don’t you think that’s crazy? It is true that guns are occasionally used to stop violence. But contrary to what the National Rifle Association suggests, this is rare. One study by the Violence Policy Center found that in 2012 there were 259 justifiable homicides by a private citizen using a firearm. Fewer guns equal fewer deaths. The US is far and away most homicidal in large part due to the essay access many Americans have to firearms.

  Second of all, the 2nd amendment was not intended for the individual, but for militia. The founding fathers included the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution for reasons of protection. The writer states “ The amendment's text speaks of a beneficiary of the right – "a free state," which implies an organized government; and a holder of the right, “the people,”  which implies possession and use in some collective form. What it never says is, “a person.” The Fifth Amendment provides rights to individual “person[s]” The Second does not do so explicitly” (Epps). This quotation shows that the 2nd amendment was not specifically showing that an individual should carry a firearm. While it is true that guns help people feel protected from dangerous animals and dangerous criminals and it is also true that guns in the hands of civilians can make someone feel safer from the government. But machine guns in the hands of anyone can hurt us as much as it can help us.” Will it be ok for people to bare those arms then? For that reason, the 2nd amendment is not keeping up with the times, when now we have semi-automatic weapons.

Third of all, the increase in gun violence is astonishing more and more people are dying because of firearms. Since December 2012, a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 Children, six adults and himself. Since then, there have been more than 1,600 mass shootings. For instance, the deadliest mass shooting in resent history in the USA was in Las Vegas in a concert, 64 year old man shoots gunfire on a crowd of 22,000 and killing 58 people an injuring almost 500. Also, in a nightclub in Orlando which 49 people are killed and more than 50 are injured. People who suffer from mental illness are actually far more likely to be victims of gun violence than perpetrators of it.

In addition, it is impossible to pick up a newspaper or watch the evening news without being bombarded with the details of another mass shooting, or another child that was killed while playing with a gun. If the people of Americans have learned anything from the countless, senseless tragedies that America have faced as a nation, it is that death at the hands of another is extremely personal and far too real. There were real, alive people in Florida school shooting and all the other ones’. There were bone-crushing, blood losings, life-ruining and life-ending bullets in the weapons the suspect fired. There were and are real consequences all of  the action that people face because of our “freedom” to keep and bear arms. 

In conclusion, the USA should not bear arms because of the abuse and misuse of these weapons, it’s not what the 2nd amendment was intended for and the increase of senseless gun violence the freedom to keep and bear arms in 2018 is not what our Constitution and our Founding Father had intended for this country. So, let us not just mourn the dead, let not lower flags and make melancholy speeches. Let us learn from these tragedies, so American can be exceptional because the 2nd Amendment is not sacrosanct and our children are not expendable.

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