The Supreme Court recently ruled that the right to bear arms is an individual right, not merely a collective right of the states concerned with their need for militias. Do you agree or disagree with this decision? What restrictions on gun ownership and use would you support?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

the four reasons discussed in the book in defense of the Second Amendment as securing an individual right to bear arms and expand on them some: (1) Hunting and other leisure activities involving guns do not hurt anybody and are an important part of American culture, (2) the possession of guns is necessary for self-defense, (3) citizens should have the right to arm themselves to protect their families and properties from a potentially tyrannical government, and (4) it is not government’s business to regulate gun use. On the other side of the argument, students should point out that advocates of gun control (1) argue that none of these reasons has anything to do with the Second Amendment, (2) point to statistics that show that countries with stricter gun control laws have less violence and few gun-related deaths, (3) remind us that no right is absolute, and (4) point out the irony in claiming the protection of the Constitution to own weapons that could be used to overturn the very government the Constitution supports.