Part I: What is the history of the second amendment in the United States?

In reaction to the British rule, that restricted the colonists from bearing arms, the citizens

of the newly founded United States of America created the second amendment: “A well-

regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right to keep and bear Arms,

shall not be infringed.” In “The Second Amendment,” the article defined the word “militia” as it

was meant in 1776. The concept of “‘militia’ referred to groups of men who banded together to

protect their communities, towns, colonies and eventually states.”

Before the American Revolution was won, many colonists thought the British soldiers to

be oppressive, but once the war was over, the nation differed on how to fix this problem. This

caused a divide in the nation; the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. During the Revolution, the

militias proved themselves to not be strong enough to fight against the British. So the Federalists

wanted a structured, full-time army even in times of peace. But The Anti-federalists wanted state

militias in order to protect themselves against federal tyranny, which meant the citizens would be

able to own guns. The Anti-Federalists also believed a federal army should only be used to fight

foreigners.

Half of the country already owned a gun by 1775. In fact, more Americans had guns, than

they did chairs or books. In the south, owning a gun did not only allow citizens to protect

themselves against tyranny. Owning a gun allowed citizens to have domain over property, and if

you owned property, you could own slaves, and if you owned slaves, you made more money.

The result was a higher rate of gun ownership from slave owners. Consequently, the south used

their guns to keep their slaves in line more often than forming state militias.

In order to please both sides, the Second Amendment was put into place. But people

found the wording could be interpreted in different ways. The core of the debate was whether the
Amendment stated that individuals had the right to protect themselves, or whether formalized,

collected groups had the right to protect citizens. Those who favored the latter thought a group

like the National Guard should be given the right to bear arms against a repressive federal

government. But the opposing side did not want to lose their individual rights. Eventually, the

National Rifle Association (NRA) was established in 1871, to protect their individual rights.

Since then, there has been three pivotal cases that furthered the complicated realities of

gun policy in America today. In reaction to the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, the

Brady Bill was put in place to mandate background checks for all gun purchases. This Act was

enforced at a federal level. Later on, two cases were put into place that contradicted the Brady

Bill: District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago. Both cases took away the federal

government’s authority over the individual’s right to bear arms. In the article “The Second

Amendment”, it referenced Justice Samuel Alito’s arguments in the McDonald case, “‘ we held

that individual-defense is “the central component of the Second Amendment right.”’ Due to the

wording of the amendment and rulings that followed, gun policy in the United States became just

that little bit more complicated.

Part 2: How much gun violence is there in the US?

There are many statistics that have been documented about gun violence in the US. In

order to get accurate and reliable data, Everytown: For Gun Safety is a website that obtains its

data from U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Everytown relies on a “five-year-

average of data from the CDC, whose National Vital Statistics System contains the most

comprehensive national data, currently available through 2016.” On example of the national

data comes from "Fatal Injury Reports," Injury Prevention & Control: Data & Statistics, which
has been accessed as recently as December 2017. Statistics show that there are approximately

13,000 homicides in the US on average each year. On average, fifty women are shot and killed

by their “intimate partners” each month. To add on, A women is five times more likely to be

killed in a domestic violence situation when a gun is present. And on average, everyday, ninety-

six US citizens are killed by a gun and seven of them are a child and/or a teen.

Since 2016, Gun Violence Archive offers data from January through March 2018 on gun

violence in the US. It reveals there have been 11,756 gun related incidents in the last two and a

half months. 8,301 gun deaths and injuries combined have been reported. There have been 712

kid/teen/related injuries and deaths. 559 of the reported incidents have been officer related. Gun

violence in home invasion has been reported 446 times. There have been 359 accidental

shootings. And forty-eight mass shootings have taken place. Even though forty-eight mass

shootings may seem like a small number, the actual amount of injuries/deaths from those mass

shootings add up to approximately 280.

One statistic that needs to be mentioned is the number of self-defense incidents. Gun use

has been reported 338 times in self-defense in the last two and a half months. What is relevant to

point out is that the number of children and teens either injured or killed is more than double the

number of reported self-defense incidents. Moreover, there have been more reports of

unintentional shootings than reported self-defense incidents. Referring back to the second

amendment, the main debate is whether the individual should have the right to protect

themselves. There are many people killed or injured by guns everyday, but the number self-

defense incidents are significantly lower. By owning a gun, one is risking their own and other

people’s lives.
 Part 3: How does the US compare to other countries?

The U.S.A. has highest rate of gun-ownership in the world. In fact, out of 100 people

88.8 people own a fir-arm. Next to,Yeman, where 54.8 people own a firearm. Considering

Yemen is not classified as a first-world country, the difference between the two is shocking.

Here’s a chart of the top 16 countries with the highest rates of gun ownership, based on a study

done in 2007 by the Small Arms Survey website.

COUNTRY CIVILAIN FIREARM ARSENALS PER 100 PEOPLE

Iceland 30.3

Germany 30.3

Austria 30.4

Canada 30.8

France 31.2

Norway 31.3

Sweden 31.6

Uruguay 31.8

Iraq 34.2

Saudi Arabia 45.0

Cyprus 36.4

Serbia 37.8

Finland 45.3

Switzerland 45.7

Yemen 54.8

United States 88.8

Some of the countries with the lowest rates are Singapore, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

Additionally, the US has the most homicides and unintentional/suicides/undetermined

gun related deaths than any other high-income country.