The Second Amendment

Name:
Course:
Instructor:
Date:
The Second Amendment
The Second Amendment to the United States constitution is a component of the United States Bill of Rights. The second amendment is one of the earliest ten amendments made to the United States constitutions that protect the rights of individual’s to bear arms. In 1791, both Houses approved the Second Amendment after a heated debate as James Madison brought the motion forward after several amendments. However, the roots of the Second Amendment traced back to The English Bill of Rights of 1689 (Doherty, 17).
The privilege to bear arms in ancient England was a natural right. However, the religious conflicts threatened the right that existed between Catholics and the growing protestant population at the time. Following abuses of power by monarchs such as King James II, it became prudent to draft the English Bill of Rights. This was in an attempt to keep the monarch in check so as not to deny any English man the right to protect and defend themselves and others. This limited the ability of the king to disarm any of his subjects subject to parliamentary approval (Whitney, 13).
Early English settlers in the United States viewed the right to own arms as a necessity to ease an innate privilege of self-defense, deter tyrannical government, suppress insurrection and slave revolts, repelling invasion, participating in law enforcement, and permit people organize a militia system. However, there have been disputes over the years as to the importance of different functions of this right.
Prior to the drafting of the constitution and the end of the revolutionary war, the government constituted of different elements. There were the Loyalists, people who supported British rule and Patriots, people who wanted independence from British rule. These two different factions interpreted the natural right to bear arms differently, which later reflected in state constitutions.
During the drafting of the United States constitution, the Bill of Rights turned out to be an integral part. However, those involved perceived the interpretation of the privilege to own arms differently. One faction of political leaders wanted to limit the reach and authority of the federal government granting states the supreme rights over arms. Another faction wanted the federal government to have the sole authority to rise and arm militia. Historians argued that those for the state system of arms did not believe the federal government would be able to raise an army that would be able to defend all the states. However, those against the federal system saw malice in one segment of the amendment that the government would exploit. However, federalists were of the opinion the federal government through congress should regulate arm.
The new constitution accorded congress the authority to raise land armies and naval crews, fund them and even declare war. Through article one section 8, the constitution outlined the ro...