Fire Away

Trevor Arthur\

September 29, 2016

ENG1158/ Dr.White

Fire Away

What is Freedom? Freedom comes in two variants: freedom "from," and freedom "to." Both of these are crucial in American society. We all want freedoms "to" do things that benefit us, and we want freedoms “from” things that harm us. We all want to be free to speak our minds; we all want to be free from, say, invasion by foreign nations. To these ends, Americans have tacitly agreed on a set of laws to help maximize our freedoms, as we recognize that we do need some laws to gain the most out of our freedoms. Each and every amendment in the Bill of Rights is important, but the Second Amendment is the most important because it guarantees that the others will not be taken away. Once the right to own firearms is eliminated, eliminating all other rights will be a breeze. If that happens, what am I going to do? Protest? I certainly couldn’t resist. All I could do is watch it happen. The Second Amendment is my insurance policy against this. It’s an essential part to keep my mind at ease throughout daily life to ensure that my freedom and safety is assured.

"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." (U.S. Const.) So, what does the importance of this sentence signify? Does it mean that all people should have the ability to possess whatever arms they wish? Pro-gunners disagree on the limits of this bill: some people believe it should be absolute, and any and all arms should be legal. Some pro-gunners draw what seem to be obvious limitations. For instance, the owning of a nuclear weapon or other weapons of mass destruction should be illegal. Some go even further, and declare that such heavy military equipment such as tanks, bazookas, etc., should be illegal, and then some believe that reasonable controls on items such as assault rifles are all right. As I feel that most of these limitations are realistic, one...