An Analysis of the Gun Violence in the United States
Gun Violence in America is a not a debate over the pro-gun or anti-gun culture. Rather it entails the fundamental issues of law and government. And the rights of every American citizen to enjoy life and pursue happiness. The pro-gun lobbyists and the National Rifle Association (NRA). Since its conception in 1871 have sought to manipulate. And twist Article II of the Bill of Rights found within the United States Constitution. Thereby recreating the idea of manifest destiny and bringing the current topic of the right to bear arms to Washington.
What the NRA, pro-gun lobbyists and many citizens fail to realize. Is that unless we impose stricter gun laws, mandatory registrations. And thorough background checks we will continue to see the disasters similar to. Those of Waco, Texas and Columbine, Colorado across our nations headlines. Private citizens who run amuck governing themselves. As a separate and sovereign states with nothing more. Than a promise of good faith to govern themselves amid other citizens. Tipping the scales in favor of those with the bigger stick. And imposing a looming and dangerous cloud of possible anarchy which could occur at any moment.
The National Rifle Association was conceived in 1871. Since then theyre mission. Statement has dramatically changed from the scientific study of firearms. To youth programs immersing the youth in hunting and therefore killing. In 1975 the National Rifle Association established the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) set up to protect citizens rights to purchase, possess and use firearms. The ILA is also referred to as the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association in Washington, which many times responds to those in favor of stricter laws as over emotive individuals.
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As reported recently in a Reuters publication, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the National Troopers Coalition and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers joined Michael Barnes, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in pushing for gun records and stricter restrictions on purchasing guns at gun-shows. They cited the case of Ali Boumelhem who is a member of the Lebanese Hezbollah guerilla group who purchased weapons at a gun show in Michigan and was charged with trying to smuggle weapons and ammunition to Lebanon.
The problem is that many of the gun shows around the country have private dealers who do not need to conduct any type of background check in order to make a sale, due to the gun-show loophole which requires that background checks are mandatory for anyone buying a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Richard Gallo, vice-president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers was quoted as saying, I cant tell you how many lives will be saved by applying the same background check systembut I do know that murders, armed robbers and even terrorists exploit the gun show loophole. However, James Baker the chief lobbyist for the NRA dismissed the calls as, opportunistic and laughable, the devil is in the detail. What he meant by the last statement is unclear, what is clear is that the NRA does not fully understand the Second Amendment.
The design of the Constitution in regards to the Second Amendment, is more accurately depicted in the Militia Clause Section 8, Article I, and the Militia Act of 1792 which requires the state to enroll meaning, register militiamen for military duty and maintain inventories as opposed to the NRAs focal point, which happens to reflect only half of the Second Amendment, which states, the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
So it is easy to understand how an individual is likely to interpret the Second Amendment as a means to ensure the equality of all citizens to carry firearms. However, to interpret the Second Amendment without looking at the Amendment fully is like having a person without any theological education referring to verses Matthew 5:38, 5:39 in the Bible quoting You have heard an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, in order to substantiate that the Bible advocates violence but failing to recognize the second part of the verse which tells readers to turn the other cheek, as a response to violence.
Yet the anthem of extreme individualism of the right to be armed marches on, paralleling the path forged by the Framers of the Constitution from John Lockes The Second Treatise of Government. His theory thrived on the dissolution of law and government and return to the State of Nature. To paraphrase Hannah Pitkins 1965 paper, Obligation and Consent I.
What matters to Locke is not really whether one has consented or contracted to obey a government, but whether the government deserves ones consent.
A state of anarchy, which is as combustible as an open can of gasoline in a garage where everyone smokes cigarettes. A state of anarchy which if it followed the NRA and Lockes extreme state of nature philosophy during the Shays Rebellion in1786, would have caused detrimental effects upon the new and still unformed government. However, not all the Framers shared this sentiment, to cite John Adams:
To suppose arms in the hands of the citizens, to be used at individual discretion
..is to demolish every constitution, and lay prostrate, so that liberty
can be enjoyed by no man is a dissolution of the government.
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey in 2000, 533, 470 victims of serious violent crimes (rape, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault) stated that they faced an offender with a firearm, which represented 8% of the 6.3 million violent crimes in the United States. The FBIs Crime in the United States estimated that 66% of the 15,517 murders in 2000 were committed with firearms. The problem is not the firearms themselves but rather the unconstrained laws governing the selling and use of firearms. Increase the accountability factor and educate a constituency around it.
Senator John McCain introduced a bill earlier this year addressing the accountability issue to close the gun show loophole, promising to push for its passage through Congress after the Christmas recess. Currently there are four handgun registration bills in Congress, S.890.IS, H.R. 2377.111, S.767.ID, S.25.ID two of which deal with the gun show loophole and the others with registration. As always though the bills are long of federal regulation but lack the education needed for the public. However, thanks to groups like the Million Mom March and the Brady campaign, which have lobbied for stricter gun laws that the NRA is so adamantly opposed to, changes have been made. Recently winning campaign victories for candidates that are for stricter gun laws.
However there is still much work that is to be done, the greatest challenge is addressing gun violence in the public eye and making this country safe for all citizens. While it is understood that pro-gun activists and the NRA are concerned with the citizens Second Amendment rights, they should try to view the opposition side as a legitimate reason for all citizens to live peacefully and prosper without the possibility of someone utilizing force with a firearm to make a point. Furthermore when the Framers drafted the Constitution they understood the likelihood that time changes things, that is why they included the Tenth Amendments elastic claus
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An Analysis of the Gun Violence in the United States. (2023, May 30). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/an-analysis-of-the-gun-violence-in-the-united-states/
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