The 2nd Amendment and Second Rate Understanding

One of hot topics that arises from time to time in this country is the Second Amendment otherwise known as the right to keep and bear arms. The amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791 along with nine other amendments making up the Bill of Rights. It one of the hottest debated of the 27 amendments and garners a variety of opinions and at times a lack of understanding. It has recently been at the center of two U.S. Supreme Court cases in the last couple years.

When the Second Amendment was proposed it was written at a time much different than 2010. There was a very real threat of an attack by Great Britain. There was a lack of military and organized Armed Services like we see today. There was not local police and similar authorities all the way up to the federal government. The Departments of Justice, Defense, and Homeland Security were decades away from being created. The Attorney General in 1791 was a low key position with little power. The Founding Father envisioned a need for the Second Amendment based upon enabling for a militia system and law enforcement, fighting against an undemocratic government, and preventing insurrection as well as invasion. Not to mention using the amendment to prevent slaves from rebelling or escaping. That certainly does not apply at all anymore.

As written in the U.S. Constitution, the Second Amendment (Right to Bear Arms) reads: "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."

Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, those words have been at the center of a debate of what the amendment was intended to do. You can read headlines and see stories on nearly a daily basis that involve guns and gun violence. While regardless of that, gun enthusiasts and supporters consistently come out in outrage because they think the government wants to take their guns away. They go around yelling the Second Amendment without truly viewing the amendment in all of its context. What the National Rifle Association and all the others who hold their guns in high standard and preach their right to have a gun forget quickly that the Second Amendment was intended for the purpose of keeping and forming a militia when necessary. It was intended for anyone to just own a gun for fun, but for a purpose.

During our founding and early years as a nation, state militias were common and needed a form of protection. Additionally, they were the ones who protected our borders and states against attacks; now we have the National Guard in each state. These individuals are better trained and professionally equipped unlike the militias in the 1700s. Unless you are a member of the National Guard, you not expected nor needed to rise up whenever necessary. However, each state has their own constitution and have tweaked and prodded compared with U.S. Constitution's version. In the early days, there were differences, but all states came together to accept the version written in the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, in the early years of the republic there was uncertainty of who would be running the country. Back then, colonists had a viewpoint of living under the King of England and wanted to ensured that they would have a gun in case they had to rise up against an unruly leader. Today, until recently, there seemed no need for such action and the vast majority held that viewpoint. But anger has reached such a high level, that if someone just goes against their opinion they are viewed as someone oppressing them in the same light as King George in the 1770s.

Now with all that said, I completely understand and am for someone having a gun. But please do not harp that because of the Second Amendment you automatically have the right to have one. In 1791, the context of the United States and the world and how the Second Amendment are far different than today. You do not need to carry a gun because there are police and the National Guard in every state that are meant to protect you. If you are proven to be sane and capable of having a gun, then keep that gun at home in a safe location. If you want to go hunting or "play" with it; do that in that in a safe location. You don't need to bring a gun to church. You don't need to bring a gun to a rally even if it is for the NRA.

Too many times people misuse the freedoms and rights they have. They also harp on being a Constitutionalist and then conveniently neglect the meaning and true context of what is in the U.S. Constitution. Also not surprisingly, not too many know their history and that lack of knowledge causes them to make assumptions based on what others say or their own loose knowledge. The biggest problem right now with the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is not what purpose it is meant to serve, but a second rate understanding of what that amendment was intended for. When more people start to grasp that, then, we will not have so many people guarding their guns and brandishing them around at their own will.