The Second Ammendment

Excerpt, in quotes, taken from Constitution.org.

"Article the fourth [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."

In recent years the fight to ban weapons and ammunition by certain citizens, organizations, and members of the government has taken it's toll. Forcing law-biding citizens to have waiting periods, register firearms with the government ( Why, are they planning on taking them someday?), and making them less available to people who are not criminals. These laws keep making it harder and harder for people who are not criminals to get something that they, according to our bill of rights, have a right to own.

Criminals, on the other hand, have no trouble getting guns of any kind. They are, after all, criminals and don't abide by these laws or any others. So any additional gun control laws can only be interpreted as the government trying to restrict our, the law-biding citizens, rights and freedoms more.

I can understand the move to get guns from the criminals on our streets but, spending thousands or possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars to pass a law trying to control the people that already obey the laws will not fix the problem. I also do not believe that removing guns from the general population will fix this. The only way to fix this is to make punishment for the criminals stiffer and not allow violent offenders back out on the street at all. Some states have already started doing this, using a 10-20-Life program or something similar. This has helped.

I believe, as many others do, the second amendment was put in there to help keep the government in check. The founding fathers of this nation believed in standing up to tyrannical governments. They also believed it was possible for this to occur in our nation other wise it wouldn't have been in the Bill of Rights. How else can you do this unless you have some means of defense, hence the right to keep and bear arms. Should we allow this right to be taken from us, we will have no way to defend ourselves from a possibly tyrannical government, which could be our own or from abroad, not to mention criminals.

One other thing I should add.... The criminals on our streets are cowards. Most take advantage of women, children, the elderly, and people that appear to be weak. The criminal automatically assumes that you have no means of self defense, especially if they take you on their own turf. This wouldn't be an issue if more of us carried concealed weapons. If more people had concealed weapons, legally of course, the criminal, being a coward, wouldn't dare mess with them for fear of being shot. The criminal likes to have the least amount of resistance that is why people are usually taken by surprise. If more people where carrying concealed carry permits then the tables would be turned and the violent crime rate would go down. Not to mention, if the criminal was confronted, chances are he/she wouldn't do it again.