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Is It Time To Revise Second Amendment?
“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.” – United States Second Amendment. Bill of Rights
There has been a lot of debate about the issue of what the Second Amendment actually means. Some people think it is stating that only a militia can bear arms, and others interpret this to say that guarantees the freedom for any citizen of the United States to “bear arms.” The subject of gun control is the new wedge issue in America, and it has divided us into two sides of this issue. Both think that they are right and due to the lack of clarity of the 2nd Amendment, it is difficult to say, based upon the wording of the constitution, which side is correct.
First, we must establish that while the US Constitution is a great document, it is fallible. The original Bill of Rights left out women’s rights and slavery. Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution states, “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.” — 3/5 of a Person
Slaves were only considered to be 3/5 of a person, which was specified only for taxes. Later, the 13th Amendment was established and this freed everyone from slavery and involuntary servitude except when it is a punishment for a crime. Women were granted the right to vote in 1919 when the 19th Amendment passed, this is less than 100 years ago. These are just a few examples proving that this document is flawed and that it needs to be updated as society changes. We have evolved since our nation was founded; granting freedom to all citizens, but there is still room for improvement.
The next part of this issue, to me, is the definition of the word “arms.” From a military standpoint, arms mean quite more than just simple rifles and handguns. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word “Arms” is defined as, Noun — “weapons and ammunition; armaments.” Oxford DictionarySo the word used in the Constitution is simply, “arms,” and this is a very vague definition of what that word is supposed to mean. If we use that word in a different title, such as Arms Industry, then we have a long list of items that fall under that classification of “arms.” The Arms Industry is a business and in this case there are arms producing companies, simply called defense contractors, and they produce these arms for United States. MORE
