Firearms, the Economy, and the 1990's

Ashley O

Capitalisms

11/10/2010

Firearms, The Economy, and the 1990’s

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights adopted on December 15, 1971, that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The founding fathers of the United States believed, and wrote, that the bearing of arms was essential to the character and dignity of a free people. The Second Amendment in the Bill Of Rights which reads the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Two recent supreme court decisions, the District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and the McDonald v Chicago in 2010 interpreted the Second Amendment. In the case of Heller and the District of Columbia the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects and individuals right to possess a firearm, unconnected to service in the militia and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. In the case of McDonald’s v Chicago, the court determined that the Second Amendment limits state and local government authority to the same extent that it limits federal authority.

The Second Amendment has created controversy in many forms as people take sides about gun laws and guns itself in whether or not they are a good asset to the economy. Much talk has been bandied before, but especially after the Littleton, Colorado shooting regarding guns and gun ownership. Several years before the Columbine shootings, Congress imposed a school-zone gun ban which prohibited firearms within 1,000 feet of any school, under the mistaken belief that potential killers obey gun-control laws. That law didn’t deter the two perpetrators of the Columbine massacre, but it did get Joel Myrick in trouble who was a principal of a school in Pearl Mississippi in 1997 who stopped a violent teen who was shooting up the school, saving his students but prosecuted because of the school-zone gun ban for having a firearm within 1,000 feet of the school....