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The
Right to Bear Arms
Henry Peter
AB School of Sciences
The Right To Bear Arms
"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." Second Amendment.
Irrespective of all arguments relating to the syntax of the above, the
fact remains that per se the amendment guarantees the continuity of
the right to keep and bear arms to the people.1 The question is whether
today's world can accommodate this 200 year old article whose amendment
requires two-third majority of each house and three-fourth of the states;
whose amendment process can be stymied by as little as 4.5% of the US
population.
It is essential to understand that the constitution is not etched in
stone and can be subject to, if not serious flaws of formation, then
with flaws of age and surrogate error. With the advent of technology
and formulation of automatic weapons, the US Government has prohibited
sales and ownership of such since 1934. In 1993 the Brady Bill was passed
resulting in a very obvious Show-Gun Loophole. Again in 1994 an act
was passed resulting in prohibition of weapons within a said radius
of schools and government buildings. Still further acts of installing
safety features in guns to prevent tragedies of minors and to keep the
gun under lock and key have been points of controversy.
Experience and reason dictate that laissez faire and totalitarian rules
are equally harmful and fine boundaries need be drawn to fully capture
the essence of democracy. Proponents of further gun control argue that
with fewer guns violence will decrease. Tragedies involving minors will
reduce and we will have a safer place to live.
The argument is akin to saying that with fewer swords or with fewer
arrows violence will decrease. Violence is not a function of the weapon.
It is a result of temporary and/or permanent state of mind. A gun can
trigger violence no more than a knife or a sword or an arrow can.
In an average year five times as many children die in bathtubs than
they do in gun related violence. And whoever heard of the "Bathtubs
Control Act?"
Criminals are those who do not obey laws. Irrespective of what law exists
in the country they will continue to obtain weapons, if not through
legal channels then through illegal ones. Currently background checks
are required for issuing a gun. As much as each act of violence stands
on its own, such a check at least provides us with some little assurance
of who has the guns. Predominantly criminals use handguns for violence.
If the police that is at a dismal statistic of one policeperson per
3000 plus civilians,2 is not available what are those fired upon to
do?
If guns are to be completely eliminated (Sullum January 2000) from the
society then control laws are surely the slowest means of doing so.3
Those who advocate strict gun control laws refer to the increasing murder
rate over the last tqo decades attributing this trend to the increase
in the private ownership of arms. Kates refers to it.
… the causal connection here is not that more handguns have resulted
in more violence, but that more violence by the kind of disturbed, aberrant
people who commit murders (and by the equally aberrant, but much less
disturbed, people who commit robbery, burglary, etc.) has caused law-abiding
citizens to buy handguns in self-defense…… And it cannot be
reduced by handgun bans because these people-who won't obey a law against
murder-aren't going to obey a law against owning handguns.4
For all crimes that are committed stricter laws will be passed. Those
who abide by them will suffer the hardships. Those who will not will
continue to do as before. Nothing can justify tragedies like that of
Columbian High School, April 20, 1999, resulting in deaths of thirteen
students. But isn't the cause of such tragedy deeper than the presence
of guns? Shouldn't the circumstances that lead to such acts of violence
be investigated just as adroitly as the gun control laws are lobbied?
What is required is enforcement of the existing laws and plugging of
loopholes before passing of newer ones. Until and unless complete guarantee
of the lives of the civilians can be ensured, which surprisingly is
exactly what the constitution states it is not responsible for; stricter
and stricter laws will continue to penalize law-abiding citizens.
Endnotes
1. Gun Week. (Sept 13, 1991). Retrieved from the World Wide Web on May
02, 2001. (http://www.cphv.com/art2ndint.htm)
2. Reynolds, Morgon O. Myths about gun controls. Retrieved fro the World
Wide Web on
May 02, 2001.
(http://www.ncpa.org/studies/s176/s176.html).
3. Sullum, Jacob. "Cold Comfort". Reason Online January 2000
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