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Second Amendment 1

Faith Brings
Mr, Lewis
Seminar
April 13, 2015
Second Amendment Origin and Changing

Gun Rights vs Gun Control, something if ever brought up, makes one hell of a

debate. It's all about recognizing both sides of the meaning of the Second Amendment.

If it either gives the right for citizens to bear arms and or if it gives right for only the mili-

tary of each state to bear arms. The reasoning for this debate would be our civil libertar-

ian's fear of one another. This fear has led to groups, such as American Civil Liberties

Union. These groups are acting as the National Coalition. Their goal is to ban individual

handguns from the common man. They take the side that the Second Amendment only

protects the state's right to an organized military and dissuading the right to an individ-

ual right.

Perhaps groups like the American Civil Liberties Unions are right, perhaps

they're wrong, but to make this conclusion; let's go through the origin and the changing

of the Second Amendment; because it was believed that the founding fathers who wrote

the second amendment, believed in the right to bear arms and the control of guns. In

the second amendment, the text writes: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary for the

security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be in-

fringed." Both halves are totally different, and each half is used against each other.

Gun supporters believe the amendment leans in their order. That it supports

their side for the second half of the right. Gun-control advocates think the amendment

only leans towards only militia are able to own guns. Like it says in the first half of their

right, which supports gun rights. The funny thing is the founding fathers actually restrict-
Second Amendment 2

ed blacks and whites who didn't pledge their allegiance to own a gun and women of

course. The founders actually required eligible men to own a gun, and they also in-

spected and registered the guns, so let us get to know the origin and history to know

what's its all really about.

Part I

In the eighteenth-century, it was observed that the best defense for free states

was the citizens, who only took of arms when necessary. So really, it's an old proposi-

tion for citizens to pick up arms and defend one's community. It started with King Henry

II, who issued an Assize of Arms in 1181. It required, depending on wealth, the subjects

to provide an iron helm and lance. Then when Queen Elizabeth assessed the throne,

she formalized the growing of a citizen army by giving outlines to each citizen army in

each country. During her reign, the name "militia" came about.

By the end of the Tudor court reign, the "citizen militia" became a thread in

England when Parliament and the crown had a civil war, and Parliament won. Then lat-

er, during the time Charles II reigned, he disbanded the military, but besides the ones

that were believed to be loyal. From then on, Parliament created the Militia Act of 1661,

which controlled the militia in the king. In 1689, when William and Mary were rulers, the

Parliament adopted the Declaration of Rights. It created the right for subjects to bear

arms in defense. The right made it possible to bear arms, so parliament would be able

to stay in power and rule over the tyranny. So a real tyranny would not go back into ef-

fect. The ruler prior to Parliament tried to take away the right to bear arms and made

having a gun illegal. This historical concept is older than the birth of the Constitution.
Second Amendment 3

This idea of a "citizen militia" was taken from England; changed then modified to fit our

nation's needs at the birth.

When the Second Amendment began to come forth. The ratification of the

Constitution in 1788 was finished, and the First Congress was assembled. A man by the

name of James Madison introduced amendments that subsequently served what would

become the Bill of Rights. He went and became a congressman and proposed this idea

on June 8, 1789.

One of Madison's amendments proposed; It was "that the right of the people to

keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, a well-armed and well-regulated militia being

the best security of a free country, but no conscientious objector shall be compelled to

render military service in person." His proposal called for this very right and the right to

the freedom of the press, religion, and speech to be inserted in limitations on Con-

gress's power over citizens. "Madison's suggested placement of this amendment

demonstrates that he understood the right to bear arms to be an individual right. Had

Madison viewed the right as the states' right, the more logical placement of the right

which reserves to the states the power to appoint the officers of the militia and provides

authority to train the same." as written in The History Of The Second Amendment by

David E. Vandercoy. Madison's proposals were referred and edited, then it was sent to

the Senate. The Senate combined some amendments and simplified others. The right to

bear arms was edited to what we see now "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."

Part II
Second Amendment 4

Additionally, over the years since the Second Amendment was put down; it's

been modified and changed. Starting during the Civil War, blacks and slaves were pro-

hibited to the right to bear arms; for instance, after the South lost the Civil War they

adopted the Black Codes. Laws designed to reestablish white supremacy by dictating

what the freedmen could and couldnt do. To enforce this law groups terrorized blacks

and the most famous was the Ku Klux Klan. They were terrorized due to that fact that

white South was afraid of armed freed slaves. Against this terrorism, the North fought

back at this "Code Black." They sought to reaffirm the freedmens constitutional rights,

including their right to possess guns. Then ordered in January 1866 the constitutional

rights of all loyal and well-disposed inhabitants to bear arms will not be infringed. When

the South didn't fallow, Congress passed Freedmens Bureau Act of July 1866, which

granted ex-slaves the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings concerning

personal liberty including the constitutional right to bear arms. That same year Con-

gress passed the Civil Rights Act, in summary, it went on about the U.S. citizen's free-

dom, and that it was a federal offense if taken away.

During the 1900s, some major cases that brought about major change were

the Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act

of 1965. To elaborate, the aggressive Southern effort to disarm the freedmen prompted

Malcolm X and the Panthers a hundred year later, to defend their right to bear arms.

Announcing that blacks have the right to own a gun by citing the second half of the sec-

ond amendment. Basically, the South made the blacks fight for a constitutional amend-

ment to better protect their rights. Which, lead whites, including conservative Republi-

cans to support new gun control. These gun-control laws of the late 1960s were de-
Second Amendment 5

signed to restrict the use of guns by black supremest. This fueled the rise of what we

have now, gun rights vs gun control. The Ku Klux Klan, Ronald Reagan, and for most of

its history, the NRA are groups which've all worked to abolish gun rights or in other

words, control guns. The Black Panthers were against this, and they were the most vis-

ual in their pro-gun movement, "the true pioneers" as put by David E. Vandercoy.

During the dispute during 1967, the fear of black people with guns inspired gun

restrictions from Congress. In 1968, a federal report accused the unrest(riots and shoot-

ing) on the easy availability of guns. The rioters used guns to keep law back, from this

spouted the conclusion the firm conclusion that effective firearm's controls are an es-

sential contribution to domestic peace and tranquility. Consequently, in April of 1968,

James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. with a gun and two months later RF

Kennedy was shot. That very day Congress passed the Omnibus Crime Control and

Safe Streets Act of 1968. Later, the Gun-Control Act of 1968 was amended and en-

larged. In this combo of law, it worked to create a federal licensing system for gun deal-

ers and clarified that the people who have a felony, are mentally ill, are illegal-drug

users, and are minors, were not allowed to own firearms.

Uniform and National Firearm Acts were another major part of the changing of

the Second Amendment. The NRA, who are the lead group for Gun Rights, was found-

ed in 1871 by George Wingate and William Church. In the 1920s and 30s, the NRA was

at the forefront of legislative efforts to enact gun control. The organizations president at

the time was Karl T. Frederick. Frederick helped draft the Uniform Firearms Act, a model

of state-level gun-control legislation. The new measure imposed more orders and far

more restrictions. The law had three parts; the first required that no one carries a con-
Second Amendment 6

cealed handgun in public without a permit from the local police. Second, the law re-

quired gun dealers to report to law enforcement about every sale of a handgun. Then

the last, the law imposed a two-day waiting period on handgun sales. Then when Con-

gress was considering the first significant federal gun law of the 20th century; the Na-

tional Firearms Act of 1934, which imposed a steep tax and registration requirements on

machine guns and sawed-off shotguns and surprisingly, the NRA endorsed this law.

Both Karl Frederick and the NRA did not blindly support gun control. They both pushed

to have similar prohibitive taxes on handguns stripped from the final bill. Arguing that

people needed such weapons to protect their homes. Yet the organization stood firmly

behind what Frederick called reasonable, sensible, and fair legislation. In the 1960s,

the NRA once again supported the push for new federal gun laws. After the assassina-

tion of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the final version of the Gun-Control Act was

adopted in 1968.

In 1998, due to numerous reasons, the Massachusetts Courts created the

Gun-Control Act of 1998. The goal of the states firearms control legislation was to limit

access to deadly weapons by irresponsible people. Another, was the June 26, 2008,

District of Columbia vs Heller Scotus and the latest. In this 2008 case, the court ruled

that the Second Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, allows an individual right to pos-

sess a firearm for lawful purposes, like self-defense. Furthermore, ruled, the local gov-

ernments can't ban all handguns, and that it is not required that firearms in the home be

disassembled or trigger-locked. The reasoning in this case, the Supreme Court went

and reevaluated the meaning of the Second Amendment.

Part III
Second Amendment 7

The Second Amendment also ties in with the Fourteenth Amendment. The

Second Amendment provides: "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 Fourteenth Amendment provides: "No state shall make or enforce any law, which

shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any

State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor

deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Four-

teenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms

for the purpose of self-defense.

To sum up, the reasoning to why the founders wrote an amendment that guar-

antees the freedom of every American against tyranny. The framers of the Constitution

wanted to ensure the protected of basic rights; including the right to bear arms that they

enjoyed as Englishmen. When the colonists began to rise up against British authority;

early American revolutionaries were denied this basic rights; including that to carry

firearms. Founding Fathers recognized through the success of their Revolution the po-

tential benefits of an armed citizenry in dispelling a distant government.

Furthermore, in concluding the dismantling of the framers of the Constitution's

Second Amendment, has been a generous dismantling. Starting at the Civil war with the

Freedmens Bureau Act of July 1866 and the Civil Rights Act. Then transitioning to the

1900s from the Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Vot-

ing Rights Act of 1965. Continuing to the Gun-Control Act of 1968, the Uniform Firearms

Act and the National Firearms Act of 1934. The final version of the Gun-Control Act was

adopted in 1968 and later, the Gun-Control Act of 1998. Stopping at the last major gun
Second Amendment 8

amendment change, was the June 26, 2008, District of Columbia vs Heller Scotus case.

Those're not even all the cases or laws/acts gone into effect. So, let us all prepare for

that "pendulum" to swing again, and another case'law rises from the ashes.

http://www.constitution.org/2ll/2ndschol/89vand.pdf
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/3/
http://news.discovery.com/human/the-historical-origin-of-the-second-amendment-121228.htm
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/second-amendment.php

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