The Importance Of The Federal Government: The Right To Bear Arms

The second amendment stated “ 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” (Second Amendment).
Back in the 1700s, the generation was afraid a too powerful army controlled by the central government could be used to oppress people. So the government could only raise army when responding sudden invasions or similar emergencies. Thus, militia only allowed to be used with strict restriction. However, during the American Revolution War, it “demonstrated that militia forces could not be relied on for national defense, and the occasions requiring a defense of the nation might not always be foreseen very far in advance”(Lund). Therefore, the Congress decided to shift the Militia controlled by State Government to Federal Government in order to be better prepared for sudden emergencies. Anti-Federalists argued that this shift of power gives a much bigger power to the Federal government that might be used against its own people. Besides, they were afraid that the Federal government might prohibit the states to raise armies. So many of them argued that “federal government should not have the power to infringe the right of the people to keep and bear arms”(Lund).

Many people belief the second amendment is used to defense the state and ensure the right to maintain militia; but others, such as justice Antonin Scalia, argued “the people” in second amendment refers to individual right because “all six other provisions of the Constitution that mention ‘the people’ unambiguously refers to all members of the political community, not an unspecified