Transcript The Second Amendment

By John Hirschfield and David Carey
Amendment II
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 Right to Bear Arms
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ANTI-GUN CONTROL
• The Founding Fathers’ meant for
Americans to have guns: “No free
man shall ever be debarred the use
of arms”
[Thomas Jefferson, Proposal
Virginia Constitution, 1 T.
ANTI-GUN CONTROL
• Most handguns are owned
for defensive reasons.
•
http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Kleck/point-blank-summary.html
ANTI-GUN CONTROL
• “Like you, I've felt the fear of being female in a
society where violence against women is
commonplace. That's why I decided that I refuse
to be a victim, and why I'm active in the NRA.”
• Susan Howard
http://www.nrahq.org/safety/rtba
v/
ANTI-GUN CONTROL
• Most guns, especially long guns, are
owned for recreational reasons, such as
hunting, and are not connected with
crime.
http://teapot.usask.ca/cdnfirearms/Kleck/point-blank-
ANTI-GUN CONTROL
• Criminal gun users most often get their guns
by buying them from friends or by theft and
will not be stopped by gun control laws.
http://teapot.usask.ca/cdnfirearms/Kleck/point-blank-
ANTI-GUN CONTROL
• Any waiting period during gun purchase
or denial of gun ownership is violating
the Second Amendment.
ANTI-GUN CONTROL
• Gun Supply Myth
www.guncite.com
PRO GUN CONTROL
• Too much violent crime
• “In 1996 alone, 34,040 Americans died
by gunfire.” (http://www.vpc.org/studies/whointro.htm)
• Widespread gun ownership allows
widespread violence
PRO-GUN CONTROL
• Guns are almost the only manufactured
consumer product that isn’t under
health and safety regulations by the
government
http://www.vpc.org/studies/whoin
tro.htm
PRO-GUN CONTROL
• The Founding Fathers did not want a
violent society.
PRO-GUN CONTROL
• The Supreme Court has ruled on many
occasions that the 2nd Amendment should be
applied in the context of protecting state
militias, not the individual’s right to bear
arms.
• The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals even ruled
that “possession of handguns by individuals is
not part of the right to keep and bear arms.”
http://www.vpc.org/fact_sht/seco
ndfs.htm
PRO GUN CONTROL
• Accidental deaths from guns are too
common.
• Without strict gun control laws, guns
get in the hands of ex-convicts, spouse
abusers, and people with mental illness.
THE BRADY BILL
signed Dec. 1993
• “The Brady Bill requires a five-day waiting
period during which local police are required
to conduct a criminal background check of
prospective handgun buyers. The legislation
authorizes spending $200 million a year to
computerize criminal background information
to create an instant-check system over the
next five years.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-
The Brady Bill
• "I come from a state where half the folks
have hunting and fishing licenses. We have
taken this important part of the life of
millions of Americans and turned it into an
instrument of maintaining madness," Clinton
said, "Would I let anybody change that life
in America? Not on your life. Has that got
anything to do with the Brady bill or assault
weapons? Of course not."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-
Jonesboro Tragedy
School buses pass a white bow, put up in memory of the four
girls and teacher killed at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro,
Ark. On March 24, 1998 two boys ages 11 and 13 opened fire at
the school after stealing rifles and handguns from one of the
children’s grandfathers. (Mark Humphrey/AP photo)