The Second Amendment 

The second amendment is the part of the 10 amendments made to the American constitution also known as the Bill of Rights. This amendment in the constitution has always fueled debate over the legislation about gun control and individual rights to bare their own arms. Before the constitution, the colonial Americans were British subjects and were considered to have the right to bear arms so that they can defend themselves and their property. Later on, after the war of independence and the framing of the constitution, the second amendment was explicitly made in the constitution. The second amendment stated that “the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the state” ("The History of Gun Rights in America: A Timeline of the 2nd Amendment", 2018).

During the time of American revolutionary war, many people believed that governments use soldiers and its army to oppress the people and for all other purposes militias were used. But when the war broke due to the insufficient militia, the constitution conventional gave the power to establish a new army. People feared that Congress would abuse its power and might use it to oppress the people ("The Second Amendment - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com", 2018).

After the U.S. Constitution was ratified, James Madison proposed this amendment to empower the state militias. The second amendment was ratified in 1791, after the proposed amendment by James Madison that the newly developed state needed a well-regulated militia and for the security of people they should have the right to bear arms. The amendment was made based on the trust of people with arms by the government. Also, this way Madison believed that the people would not fear their government as they did with the British Crown as the American Constitution is ensuring the right of people to be armed ("Second Amendment | Law Library of Congress", 2018).

Later on, there were several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court related to the Second Amendment such as the Bliss versus Commonwealth (1822), Dred Scott versus Sandford (1856) and many others. These rulings were based on case scenarios and upheld the right of individuals to bear arms. But with more Acts passed by the Congress, it was now necessary to have a license requirement for both buyer and the seller ("Second Amendment | Law Library of Congress", 2018). To date, the secondary legislation is still applicable in America although there has been some introduction of the Acts passed by the Congress. These Acts include The Share Act and The Background Check Completion Act. Both of these Acts were passed in 2017 ("The History of Gun Rights in America: A Timeline of the 2nd Amendment", 2018).

These Acts passed by the Congress are to expand the access to public land for reducing the restrictions on the purchase of arms silencers and to allow the gun sales based on the complete background check. The gun debate in America has always been revolving around the second amendment. There are people who support the second amendment believe that the founding fathers ratified it for the purpose to guarantee individual rights. However, other people who oppose it say the opposite. But the events of mass shootings in the past 2 to 3 years require that tighter background checks need to be done.