The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America asserts, “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.” At the time when this amendment was passed, the country was still primarily an agrarian and hunting society, guns were a household item, and necessary for daily life. The armed farmer was the principal soldierin the revolution to establish an independent country. The framers of the Constitutionunderstood that these gun-wielding countrymen were essential to the revolution, andwanted to insure the people would never be defenseless. In recent decades, with thewaning practical application of guns in an industrialized nation, the Second Amendmenthas come under much fire. Living in a technologically advanced country, United Statescitizens no longer have a need for guns in their everyday lives and, therefore, manyAmericans have grown up in gun-less homes. The recent rash of violence across thecountry has shown that the ideals of modern American society have gone awry. Many arequick to blame guns as the reason for this violence. Actually, the problem is not thepossession of guns; Americans have had them for over 200 years. Instead, the demise ofthe morals of society and the lack of restraint of the American public have caused therecent violent trend. Guns are merely a tool. In the hands of immoral and undisciplinedpeople, they are put to evil purposes. The problem lies in the fact that the amendment was created to deal with themuzzle-loaders of the time, and now guns have evolved into killing machines, not justhunting rifles. These new guns however, are no more capable of killing without a mancontrolling them; guns have been prevalent for literally hundreds of years without beingused as weapons for humans against humans, except in times of war. Guns have been inAmerican homes since 1776, and they were not a...
