The 2nd Amendment
The Second Amendment Most people would link violence and crime problems with gun control in America. The debate that Americans face today is the freedom the Second Amendment gives citizens and whether or not the country should repeal it. While some people feel that repealing it should solve the problem, others believe that it is one of the most important basic freedoms we have as Americans. Federal gun control laws are unconstitutional, and I believe the Second Amendment is both an individual and state right. The second amendment states: “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” (The United States Constitution). Most gun control supporters will claim that this was written during a time when militias were needed during the war with the British and that we now have the U.S. Military to protect us. These people who fight against the Second Amendment do not understand that we will always have enemies. When a citizen is attacked or robbed, the first reaction is to call the police. Why, because police officers have guns! According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, there are only 1.8 full time police officers to protect 25,000 to 49,000 citizens (“Police Officers to Population Ration”2010). It seems almost impossible for one or two police officers to protect that many citizens, and I personally would rather use my right to protect myself until a police officer arrives. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says that “John Locke (b. 1632, d. 1704) was a British philosopher”, he was very successful in government and much of our country was built around his ideas. He believed that a free person should be allowed to protect himself and his property. If the Second Amendment is repealed then this would take away our basic human rights that our country was founded upon. I believe most people that support gun control do not understand why we