Second amendment?

Question

what is your opinion on the second amendment how does it effect our society. What factors do you think this amedment means to us. Tell me your opinion.

Answer 1

When people talk about the 2nd Amendment they misunderstand the phraseology and intent of the Founders, and that's what Scalia was trying to point out in the ruling Thursday. If they didn't intend for individuals to have a right to own guns, then they would not have used the phrase, "the right of the people, " but would have found another way explain their purpose. There is a form of writing used that we don't often use today, so that you have a prefatory clause, "A well regulated militia..." and an operative clause, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms..." But the prefatory clause does not limit the expanse of the operative clause. Again, they could have said, "the right of the states to maintain a militia shall not be infringed." But they didn't and so their intent is clear. They understood at the time, and we should understand today, that the real purpose of the Amendment is to protect us ultimately from our own government.

Answer 2

In my opinion the main impact of the second amendment has been from the use of it as a wedge issue by some elements of the far right.  Those days are over because the Supreme Court has now clearly said that individuals have a right to own a gun, but that right can be regulated.  There is not much left to argue about.  See the link below for the Court's Sylabus and additional links to each of the opinions.

As far as the historical basis for the amendment, read the Heller opinion, not the posts here.  I don't think the court was telling us that the 2nd Amendment protects a right to take up arms against the government. It's just the opposite. Scalia says  that the right to arms was protected in the Second Amendment so that we could protect the government from being taken over by a standing military.

  But form your own opinion. Read the opinion itself, not the non-sense that people here are writing about it. See the link below.

Answer 3

I think with the direction this country is going, everyone needs a gun to protect themselves. Mainly from totalitarians within our own government. They are stripping us of our rights left and right, and when that happens... watch out!

Look throughout history at what has happened when a government begins oppressing it's people. When the people are disarmed, usually good citizens end up dying at the hands of the state. I know you don't think it could happen here in the U.S., but you need to wake up. They didn't think it could happen in Germany either. They thought they were free. Hitler, like Bush, was very popular among a large segment of the population. He was elected to office. Only after elected did he turn Germany into a dictatorship. He did it with laws just like the Patriot Act. (Google: Enabling Act)

Eventually, the Germans were disarmed and millions of Jews and other ethnicities died horrible deaths in the concentration camps.

Besides...

The reasons for violence in America has nothing to do with the number of guns. It has more to do with the drug war and poverty in inner cities.

The Founding Fathers were very specific when they wrote that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Also, in the Federalist Papers they explained exactly why...

To protect us from an overly oppressive government.

Here's a Little Gun Control History Lesson:

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

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In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

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Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.

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China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

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Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

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Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

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Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million 'educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

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Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.

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It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:

Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent

Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent

Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!

In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!

It will never happen here? I bet the Aussies said that, too!

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.

You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind him of this history lesson.

With Guns........ ...We Are "Citizens".

Without Them........ We Are "Subjects".

During W.W.II the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!

Note: Admiral Yamamoto who crafted the attack on Peal Harbor had attended Harvard U 1919-1921 & wasNaval Attache' to the U. S. 1925-28. Most of our Navy was destroyed at Pearl Harbor & our Army had been deprived of funding & was ill prepared to defend the country.

It was reported that when asked why Japan did not follow up the Pearl Harbor attack with an invasion of the U. S. Mainland, his reply was that he had lived in the U. S. & knew that almost all households had guns.

If you value your freedom, Please spread this anti-gun control message to all your friends!

Answer 4

The Second Amendment was written by the Founders to guarantee that the American people would never suffer under a dictatorship.  Throughout history, there have been people who crave power.   We find them in every country, and every culture.

Where normal people have no desire to control others, these individuals find this compulsion, irresistible.  They will do anything to attain power.  This is why I say that the politicians make up the criminal class of every nation.  It's not that every politicians is a criminal, many are not.  But, when it comes to attaining positions of power, those individuals who lust for power, will do thing that honest candidates for public office won't.  They will make deals, solicit bribes, even have people killed, to get the position they want.

We have seen these miscreants use the threat of terrorism to undermine our civil rights.  They continue to assault our Bill of Rights.  They have legislation on the books to deal with "emergencies", including declaring martial law.  The Second Amendment stands in the way of any proposed coup by our politicians.  

That is what the Second Amendment is all about.  Protecting the American people from our public servants.

Answer 5

To understand what the second amendment is to our society, you need to understand how it came about.

When the US Constitution was drafted and put into effect, the people were very afraid of what the government could do to the people with protection. So the Bill of Rights were drafted up which entails ten Amendments for protection from the government.

These amendments does not say what the people "could" do, they said what the government "could not" do. Inalienable rights. Rights which can not be taken away from the people.

The second amendment: "A well regulated militia (Army) being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep (own) and bear (have on their person) arms shall not be infringed".

It basically says that because an Army is required to have a free country, the people need protection from that Army if needed. Those are my thoughts.

Read your history books and the federalist papers.

Answer 6

We need to understand that the second ammendment was put in place in case there is ever war on American soil and was made so we could fight back just as the minute men did back in 1776 and a complete overhaul of the second ammendment would be an outrage, people always say it would lead to less crimes... CRIMINALS WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO GET WEPONS! I will always have a gun for defence. just remember, If guns kill people do pencils mis-spell words, its the user doing the killing not the gun   GO 2nd AM.~~~

Answer 7

When I see people, like some of these above, say that we need the second amendment to defend us from our own government -- in case our government becomes tyrannical -- I respond by repeating something which got me a best answer once before almost 2 years ago:

If the 2nd Amendment means that people have the right to rebel against their own government, then as far as I'm concerned, that was then (215 years ago) and this is now. I don't want any crazy people getting rebellious like the Confederate States and trying to wage war against our government. I do support the idea of a law-abiding individual's right to own a gun, but let's not get crazy about when and why to use them.

I believe (my opinion) that if your state legislature passes a law to ban all guns, if your Governor signs it, if the courts of your state uphold it, then you do not have a "right" to carry a gun. And if police officers come to you to confiscate your gun, and if you shoot them citing the 2nd Amendment and the Declaration of Independance as your "right" to do so, then I suspect that the Government will treat you the same way as Timothy McVeigh, and you should be.

Answer 8

very good question first of all i like the 2nd amendaent its the right to bare arm it lets u protect yourself