The Second AmendmentA 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.
Source: The Constitution
The Supreme Court case that addressed this amendment was D.C. v. Heller in 2008. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the second amendment gives an individual the right to possess a firearm for lawful purposes such as self-defense (Oyez 1).
This amendment was incorporated to all of the states after the Supreme Court case McDonald v. Chicago in 2010 when the Supreme Court ruled that the second amendment right to bear arms was fully applicable to the states because of the due process clause of the 14th amendment. Current Events: Due to recent tragedies such as Sandy Hook, Congress has made several proposals regarding gun control. Proposals have included background checks on anyone privately purchasing a gun. A current bill making its way through the House of Representatives is the "Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2013". It was just referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations. The Senate has another bill on its calendar called the "Assault Weapons Ban of 2013." This bill bans the possession, sale, manufacture, transfer, and import of any semiautomatic assault weapon. Interest groups such as the National Rifle Association lobby extensively to assure that second amendment rights are protected and to prevent the passage of bills that limit the possession of firearms (Congress 1).
What if this right was not incorporated? A state could deny you the right to defend yourself! Unfortunately, this would not likely lead to a decrease in tragic shootings. Rather, people would become more creative, like drug cartels, and find ways to illegally possess a firearm that would lead to more violence. Also, the government could lose tax revenue because when people can own guns legally, the revenue from their gun purchase goes to the government. If people could not legally own guns, they would obtain them illegally and the government would not gain the tax revenue. |