Can Gun Control Keep Us Safe?

Can Gun Control Keep Us Safe?

After much turmoil, 1776 the United States was born, and a document was created by our founding fathers, called the U.S. Constitution, this document gave the citizens of the United States certain rights, the right to free speech, the right to free religion, and the right to bear arms, otherwise known as the Second Amendment. The second amendment was adapted into the Constitution of the United States in 1791, and states, " 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.

Since the time the second amendment was written, there has been a never ending debate as to its true meaning. In 1873 one of the first cases the meanin on the right to bear arms began in Louisiana, and it took until 1876 for it to go in front of the U.S. Supreme court. In 1873 after a massacre in Louisiana where 300 African Americans were killed while defending the courthouse while a revote was accruing. Members from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) attempted to denigh the Second Admentment rights of the African Americans. The case was heard buy judge White who ruled the defender had the right to defend the courthouse. That case was later appealed in front ot the Supreme Court, In this case UNITED STATES v. CRUIKSHANK 92 U.S. 542(1876), which the supreme court ruled "The right to bear arms is not granted by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence, and limited the applicability of the Second Amendment to the federal government. " What this means is state governments can regulate firearms any way they see fit, and the second amendment is meant to protect states from the federal government.

One of the biggest questions, still, is why is the government trying to control legal weapons? This is one of the oldest debates in our government, was the second amendment a mistake? The second amendment says is "A well-regulated Militia" and this line has been and will continue to be argued from the beginning of the constitution. What is a well-regulated militia? According to http://dictionary.reference.com, a militia by definition is:

1. A body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies. 2. A body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.

3. All able-bodied males considered by law eligible for military service.

4. A body of citizens organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal government.

At the time the second amendment was written there was no well-defined military, so citizen soldier were expected to defend against invaders, and defend our country, them self's and property. Today instead of a militia there is the National Guard which can be called up by the government at anytime, but the role of the National Guard is not to defend individual families or their personal property. The job of protecting individual families go to the local police force, but with budget cut and layoffs a police force cannot be everywhere in an adequate amount of time.

A 911 high-priority call is considered to be, armed robbery, stabbing, sexual assault in progress, shootings, domestic disturbances, physical altercations, and robberies according to"Arlingtonpd.org". Based on the article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, "the average response for a high priority calls, from the beginning 911dispatcher until the time an officer arrives at the scene for the city of Atlanta is 11 minutes 12 seconds. The time for the El Paso, TX police department was only one second quicker at 11 minutes and 11 seconds. The Denver police department reported 11 minutes flat, and Tucson, AZ was10 min 11 seconds, and the Nashville-Davison county TN is just below 9 minutes." The times quoted here do not reflect low-priority