The Right to Bear Arms

The Right to Bear Arms

How many of us want the U.S. government to have the right to tell us what to do, and when w can do it. There are probably not many who would agree that the government should have that right. Though having gun control laws is not to that extreme, some would say it is the first step. Growing up in a small town, and also growing up with guns my whole life I was one of those people who did not want gun control laws. Then after reading two articles that discussed this topic I found that I have been ignorant about this subject.

I read the articles that discussed gun control by J. Warren Cassidy and Nan Desuka. In the first article "The Case for Firearms" by J. Warren Cassidy, the author argues that the right to bear arms is given to American citizens by the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Cassidy argues that millions of Americans believe that the Second Amendment is just as crucial for the maintenance of democracy as the First Amendment Cassidy writes, "the authors of the Bill of Rights knew that a democratic republic has a right-indeed, a need- to keep and bear arms. Millions of American citizens just as adamantly believe the Second Amendment is crucial to the maintenance of the democratic process" (418). Cassidy also believes that there is no high-court decision that has found grounds to challenge this basic freedom of keeping and bearing arms. The author also argues that there has not been a reduction of crime thanks to new gun-control measures, "violent crime continues to rise in cities like New York and Washington even after severe firearm-control statues were rushed into place" (419) . In this thesis Cassidy argues that it is in the best interest of American citizens to support programs in whi...

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...cond Amendment that will support his essay, and not the whole thing.

In Desuka's essay, she shoots down Cassidy's point that the Second Amendment gives the American People a "right to bear arms." Desuka writes that the Second Amendment does not guarantee every American Citizen "the right to bear arms". She writes "But the owners of handguns are not members of a well-regulated militia" ( 424 ).

in conclusion, I found Desuka's essay more convincing than I did Cassidy's. What led me to this conclusion was: lack of statistics, dishonest evidence, and pretty much lack of any evidence to support Cassidy's. The Second Amendment specifically says " 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" (424 ), and not every American citizen is part of a "well-regulated militia".