A popular stance that gun supporters like to take is that in defense of the Second Amendment – “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.” The Second Amendment is part of our Bill of Rights, unfortunately making it one of the most important rights outlined in the United States Constitution. People who support the right to keep and bear arms reference this over and over again in their arguments against restrictive gun control. However, they shouldn’t be. And here’s why.
Racist roots
While we know racism can explain a lot of events in American history, it’s also at fault for being the foundation of the precious Second Amendment. Simply put, it was ratified in order to preserve slavery. Keep in mind, when the Constitution first came into being, it only provided these rights and protection for men who owned land. And in 1787, you can bet that most of that land was being worked by slaves. The Second Amendment was put in place in order to stop slave uprisings. If slaves tried to rebel or escape, their owners had the right to form a militia and fight back. In many states, men were required to join state militias that were created to prevent slave uprisings. Southern lawmakers were so afraid of slave rebellions that James Madison stepped in to amend the Constitution so that the government wouldn’t take weapons away from southern militias.
The difference between our military grade weapons
When the Founding Fathers wrote in the Second Amendment, the most popular military grade weapon used at the time was the flintlock musket, which could be loaded with a single shot or a grape shot, which was a cluster of small iron balls that all fired at the same time. It had a very short range and was highly inaccurate, only 20 percent of its shots hitting a target.
A semiautomatic pistol, a popular firearm owned by many people today for various reasons, can fire three shots in less than a second. According to Slate.com, “each 20-round magazine would take no more than 5.3 seconds, including time to reload.” This is also the most commonly used weapon in mass shootings in the United States, and the firearm used most in daily gun violence across communities.
I don’t think the Founding Fathers had our modern weapons in mind when they wrote the Second Amendment. I also don’t think they would have written it at all if they had any idea of what was to come.
It infringes on our rights
The exercise of your rights cannot infringe on another person’s rights. The Second Amendment has already infringed greatly on people’s right to practice religion and freely assemble. Not to mention that it threatens a fundamental principle of the United States and the three unalienable rights that the government is supposed to protect: everyone’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There are many facets to the argument for and against gun control, but the least effective point one can make is any that defends the Second Amendment. It practically negates your argument to quote a racist, contradictory document written 229 years ago when it took a whole minute to shoot four rounds.
