The Second Amendment to the US Constitution - Research Paper Example

2nd Amendment to the Constitution Table of Contents Introduction 3 History of the Second Amendment to the Constitution 3 Relevant Court Cases Regarding the Second Amendment to the Constitution 5 Statistical Report of Crime Rates in US after the Amendment 7 Both Sides of the Issue 9 Conclusion 10 Works Cited 11 Introduction The Second Amendment to the Constitution of United States was initially included in the Bill of Rights in the year 1791. However, certain arguments and criminal offences were identified in relation to the amendment in the recent years which further led to reconsideration of the enactment. Hence, during the end of June 2008, referring to the case of the District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision which later came to be attributed as the Second Amendment to the Constitution (Library of Congress, “United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court”). With due regard on the issue, the discussion henceforth intends to briefly discuss about the Second Amendment enacted in the US Constitution taking into account the various controversial arguments related to the enactment.. With this concern, the discussion will also be focused on highlighting certain recent relevant court cases with respect to the issue. History of the Second Amendment to the Constitution The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the US can be considered as one of the major controversial enactments in the history of the nation. The amendment was initially approved on 15th of December 1791which preserves the right of the US people to bear weapons irrespective of their military identification owing to their need for self-protection, defence and security in their residences. Since then, the amendment has been one of the most controversial issues in the civil legislation of the US. Recently, in the year 2008 the amendment was again questioned under the circumstances presented in the District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). The civil court therefore had to rule out that the second amendment made in the Bill of Rights violated certain protection acts already enforced within the nation. However, owing to the circumstances of the criminal offence and the purpose of the second amendment, the court approved the decree that the enactment preserves an individual’s right to acquire a weapon or gun (Pollock 375). Although similar instances had been witnessed throughout the 19th century, no particular amendments were intended with concern to the policy measures enacted in accordance to the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court of the US stated that the Second Amendment does not block the regulation of the State with regard to possess firearms. For instance, as per the United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 553 (1875), it was ruled by the Court that the Second Amendment restricts the control and power of the federal government in delivering adequate protection to the citizens of US permitting the common civilians to keep firearms imposing a threat in the society. Furthermore, in accordance to the case reference of Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252, 265 (1886), the Second Amendment had been reiterated as a limitation of the power upon Congress as well as the Government owing to its deliverance of greater military threats within the nation. Earlier than the District of Columbia v. Heller, the Second Amendment was ruled for the last time in United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939). It was in this context that Jack Miller and one former person, as the plaintiffs, were accused in support of transporting sawed-off shotgun and other unregistered firearms across the national boarders in infringement of the National Firearms Act of 1934. Miller also argued that the section within the Firearms Act, controlling the transporting of weapons also violated the regulation enacted in terms of the Second Amendment. Therefore, taking into consideration the Second Amendment to the constitution, the US Supreme Court concluded that “[i]n the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a [sawed-off] shotgun . . . has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument” (Library of Congress, “United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court”). This further indicates that the liberty or power presented to the common US citizens in accordance with the Second Amendment is inadequately apparent to allow people in merely keeping firearms or also using it when felt necessary. Undoubtedly, this further raised controversies regarding the jurisdiction. Relevant Court Cases Regarding the Second Amendment to the Constitution In the early twentieth century, the Second Amendment was ruled by both the Courts including the District and the Federal Jurisdictions. The constitutional revolution during the twentieth century led to increase the level of judiciary inspection in order to covert and unconceal the significance of the Second Amendment to the Constitution (Gulasekaram, “The People of The Second Amendment: Citizenship and the Right to Bear Arms”). In the year 2008, the Supreme Court approved its decision in accordance to the case reference of District of Columbia v. Heller by a 5-4 vote and decided that the Second Amendment preserves the right of an individual to own a firearm with the purpose of self-defence in their residences. Even though, the Court also conducted a widespread investigation with regard to the various constitutional questions, standards along with interpretation which intended to directly affect the Second Amendment to the US Constitution (Chu, “The Second Amendment and Incorporation: An Overview of Recent Appellate Cases”). The decision that are taken in the care reference of the District of Columbia v. Heller has led to a flood of proceedings, ensuing in more than 200 decisions ruled by both on the federal courts and the state courts concerning the implications of the Second Amendment which have been further deliberated to confront with the nation’s firearm commandments. As a consequence, a large number of court cases have been filed against the local and state governments along with various criminal defendants have defied an extensive variety of state and federal firearm laws in relation to the decision of District of Columbia v. Heller (Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, “The Heller Decision: A Radical Departure from Longstanding Second Amendment Case Law”). The Supreme Court of the United States held in a 5-4 decision with respect to the Second Amendment in McDonald v. City of Chicago on June 28, 2010 that even though the legislation advocated that people can bear firearms in their disposition, the ban on the right of people to keep the firearm in their residential premises in a disassembled as well as locked opposed the additions made in its Bill of Rights. Furthermore, as the amendment concentrates not only on societal and regional but also on the national security it becomes quite apparent that the Second Amendment pertains to local, state as well as to the federal government. In this context, the Supreme Court overturned a Seventh Circuit approach of taking decisions that confirmed the dismissal of the Second Amendment disputes regarding ban on the handguns held by non-militias within Chicago, Illinois and Oak Park (Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, “The Heller Decision: A Radical Departure from Longstanding Second Amendment Case Law”). Statistical Report of Crime Rates in US after the Amendment The Second Amendment to the Constitution has also been criticised on the grounds that the liberty rewarded to the civil people have evidently increased the frequency of illegal offences by amateur criminals within the US. The recent criminal statistics further reveals that most of these criminal activities are recorded in terms of homicides, fatal injuries along with various instances of domestic violence activities. With concern to the psychologists’ perspective it can further be affirmed that people being aware of their liberty to use firearms in their possession, are quite lightly to be motivated and confident in committing illegal activities. This at large can certainly give rise to security threats within the civilian society of US. For instance, according to the observation of the U.S. Census Bureau, held in the year 2000, it has been identified that over 30000 of US people are killed by firearms in possession of the common people (Phillips, Barnes, Fusselman, Haskell & Ganschow, “Gun Control Vs. the 2nd Amendment”). Furthermore, the recent statistics obtained indicating the crime rates since the year 1980 to 2008 (refer to figure 1) also reveals that even though at a fluctuating percentage, the criminal offences within the US have grown substantially imposing a threat to national defence (U.S. Census Bureau, “Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012”). Figure 1: (U.S. Census Bureau, “Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012”) Both Sides of the Issue With reference to the above discussed controversies and the consequential statistical data, it can be apparently observed that the Second Amendment to the US constitution have gradually given rise to security threats within American societies which restricts the soul intentions and virtues of the amendment. For instance, the possession of firearms by civil people have not only being accused to motivate deliberated crime but have also been observed in augmenting the frequency of accidental deaths or criminal conducts within the society. Second Amendment within the US law has also conducts an increasing number of accidental deaths due to having the legal ownership of possessing firearms. In addition, it has also been examined that the firearm ownership raises the hazard of suicide within the society by a certain degree (Phillips, Barnes, Fusselman, Haskell & Ganschow, “Gun Control Vs. the 2nd Amendment”). On the other hand, the Second Amendment also confers people to protect themselves in terms threat of assaults. Moreover, it is also mentioned within the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the US that “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” (Pollock, “The Supreme Court and American Democracy: Case Studies on Judicial Review and Public Policy.”). It is in this context that the possession of firearms also can be beneficial for the country to protect itself from any foreign occupier or criminal at the very ground level restricting greater implications of serious criminal offences (Phillips, Barnes, Fusselman, Haskell & Ganschow, “Gun Control Vs. the 2nd Amendment”). Conclusion The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Second Amendment to its Constitution preserves the right for the individuals to keep weapons for their self-defence irrespective of their belonging to militia. With respect to the Second Amendment to the Constitution, the statement of the Bill of Rights conferred that “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”. However, the implications of this sentence do not signify the accuracy of the amendment to ensure security within the community which has certainly contributed towards several controversial interpretations (Library of Congress, “United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court”). As has been revealed in the above discussion, the amendment and its implications, especially to the US military threats have augmented the controversies regarding the issue. The increasing frequency of crime rates have further acted as fuel to the opposing arguments to the amendment necessitating the enforcement of additional legal proceedings in barricading criminal offences within the national context. Works Cited Chu, Vivian, S. The Second Amendment and Incorporation: An Overview of Recent Appellate Cases. Congressional Research Service, 2009. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. Gulasekaram, Pratheepan. The People of the Second Amendment: Citizenship and the Right to Bear Arms. New York University School of Law, 2012. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. Gun Cite. Gun Homicides, No Date. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The Heller Decision: A Radical Departure from Longstanding Second Amendment Case Law, 2012. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. Library of Congress. United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court, n.d. Phillips. James, Trevor Barnes, Rebecca Fusselman, Zeeni Haskell, & Brenton Ganschow. Gun Control Vs. the 2nd Amendment. An Individual‘s Right to Possess Firearms, 2009. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. Pollock, Earl, E. The Supreme Court and American Democracy: Case Studies on Judicial Review and Public Policy. California: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print. U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. Crimes and Crime Rates by Type of Offense: 1980 to 2009, 2012. Web, 18 Sep. 2012. Read More