| The gun control debate in America is a battle between
personal freedom and public safety. For nearly 160 years,
there were no limits to the Second Amendment, which guarantees
"the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
In 1934, however, and especially in the last four decades,
Americans have begun to proscribe and debate the extent
of that right. The National Firearms Act of 1934 was the
first restriction on gun rights in American history. As
a result, fully automatic weapons are available only after
an extensive background check on the owner.
In 1968, the term "gun control" gained new
meaning with the passage of the federal Gun Control
Act. Ratified in the wake of two important political
assassinations -- Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King,
Jr. -- the Act requires that all guns carry serial numbers
forever tied to the original purchaser. Additionally,
it prohibited gun ownership by convicted felons and,
as a result of a 1990s amendment, it requires a criminal
background check for purchasers at the time of sale.
Certain states have their own gun control legislation,
although all are governed by the federal Act of 1968.
Individual states can deem their own levels of restriction
on concealed weapons and “open carry,” or
the visible transporting of a weapon. And restrictions
vary widely by state, with New York and Illinois seen
as the most restrictive and Arizona and Texas, the most
relaxed.
The latest incarnation of the gun control debate has
been in the form of the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994,
which Congress failed to uphold in its latest session.
The law prohibited the sale of any semi-automatic assault
weapons manufactured after 1994. Supporters of the ban
said it helped keep violent weapons off the street,
while opponents claimed it imposed a confusing classification
system, was overly restrictive and had little effect
on controlling violent crime.
Gun rights advocates argue that a well-armed public
helps prevent crime and ensure personal safety. Gun
control proponents, on the other hand, fear that widespread
gun ownership actually increases crime rates and leads
to other negative outcomes, both public and private.
Is the Second Amendment out-of-date, or does it guarantee
an integral right?
About the Author:
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including abortion, affirmative action, cloning, the
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