Controversy: The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms

The right to bear arms is a custom with deep roots in American society. Samuel Adams called for an amendment banning law that would “prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms,” (Adams 86-87) and Thomas Jefferson proposed that “no free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” (Jefferson 334) Although the right is protected by the Second Amendment, it is subject to a great deal of controversy. The Framers appear to have intended to guarantee an individual right to carry firearms, which is especially prevalent in today’s society, when most crimes with a firearm are done with an illegally obtained firearm, in which people may have a firearm to defend themselves,

In the Boston Massacre trial in 1770, John Adams began his opening statement with a quote from Beccaria, an Italian philosopher, and in his speech, he added that “the inhabitants had a right to arm themselves at that time, for their defense…” Adam’s own views against disarming the people were certainly consistent with the following passage from Beccaria which he copied in his diary: “Every Act of Authority, of one Man over another for which there is not an absolute Necessity, is tyrannical.” In 1775, North Carolina’s delegation to the Continental Congress, all of whom became prominent state or federal leaders, resolved: “It is the Right of every English Subject to be prepared with Weapons for his Defense.” (Hooper, 2, col. 3.) Bearing arms for personal protection was an unquestioned right in the minds of the Framers. “His own firearms are the second and better right hand of every freeman,” held Coxe, a prominent federalist and correspondent of Jefferson and Madison, the latter of which had written: “A Government resting on a minority, is an aristocracy not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical [and] physical force against it, without a standing Army and enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.” The Framers strongly endorsed the right to bear arms for self-defense; they gave written expression to their views through the second amendment and personally exercised the

Any person who would like to wield a firearm should be able to pass a rigorous background check, as well as more background checks to make sure they can still keep their firearm without being a danger to others. Of course, those that do drugs, drink too much, are known for causing trouble, have been in trouble with the law, and/or have mental issues, etc., should not be allowed to own a firearm. Today, it would seem to some that gun registration laws are not currently adequate for law enforcement. To help prevent and to help solve crimes, they should be registered by the owner when they are bought, along with a background check, and recurring background checks sometime every year or two. For example, a child may find a gun belonging to their parents, and, perhaps thinking that the gun is cool, harm themselves or others. The gun should not have been outside of a safe or locked up someplace. In a case, similar to this, it could easily be prevented by having more strict gun control laws, such as a requirement to keep the gun locked inside a place in which a child cannot get into. Author Jeff Snyder had said that “to ban guns because criminals use them is to tell the innocent and law-abiding [citizens] that their rights and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty and the lawless.” While gun ownership should