is & Bruh. Chill with the wpace bar! James Thomas Mr. Munoz. ‘Dual Credit Bag, Per. 5 November 10, 2014 — 1 spaces ‘The Right to Bear Arms? The Assault Weapon Debate PecavA of ‘With the many recent school and public mass shootings that have ended in death and < Lspaces hove the right injury,the Second Amendment has been put into question, should civilians slmat-se=alo 10 2spaces ‘own assault weapons?/ Assault weapons come in three different classifications: rifles, shotguns, Already, tere have and pistols. Fhere-heve-tlrendy been weapons and accessories banned from civilian use [sawed off shotguns, fully automatic weapons, and silenced weapons. Fhere-+has beer much controversy CX1S4S over whether the asst Second Constitution Amendment is outdated and needs to change, or if itis still applicable in today’s society. The Constitution of the United States was writteny from May 14, 1787 to September 17, 1787gand signed into effect to replace the Articles of Confederation. The Constit oofgas passive. constructed]to be a more permanent and lasting guide for future politicians. The Constitution has a preamble and seven articles, along with 27 amendments, outlining how the United States have pasted, government shall be established and conducted for centuries to come. As the ‘years pass there. hasbeen only one amendment thas been overridden} orFe}eeted, namely the eighteenth passive amendment which outlawed{everything having to do with alcohol except for the consumption of Qyw KW Panola, NOWadaus, another the beverage, hQs thereisome-amendment that is “under fire”: the Second Amendment. Ei Ht seoonb-Anenetcf te Conatition tetas articulatesy "[t]he right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This statement outlines the right to own a firearmaes for dhe purpore or Gromwans of home defense ad recreational activities. ‘This right is only taken away if the gun owner, or upcoming owner of a firearm is emotionally or psychologically unfit to own such a weapon. This statement has been the basis for all arguments against the banning and/or restricting @f assault weapons such as rifles, shotguns, and pistols. As it stands, 36-5m assault passive on banning weapons weil be sof unconstitutional until sah amendment has passed that overrides the ‘would Second Amendment, which is why anti-gun activists are working on making a new amendment that would take away all assault weapons from gun owners, ‘Anti-gun activists feel that the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution is, in regards outdated and needs to be reevaluated to the current status of the United States " a military the Second Amendment states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the perved ror security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Jake Matthews, an undergraduate student attending Harvard University, counters the Second Amendment by stating that, "[g]uns were deemed legal not to secure personal liberties, but to redundant provide for the state's collective defense. Yet America no longer maintains statewide militias connected to the federal government; rather, we depend upon a standing army for defense." The Second Amendment also entitles the American people the right to own any type of firearm: or home defense, sporting, aad recreational Progressive Majority Action, an anti-gun activist organization, explains that there must be a line between a sporting or recreational firearm and a firearm that has the potential to cause mass destruction. These assault weapons are capable of mass shootings such as: jandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut—20 children and 6 faculty murdered with a semiautomatic copy of the U.S. military’s M-16 rifle; Columbine High X Wher upy have an embedded quote, don't add o comma hefure. Far CXOMple Joke Motinews Storer that “Cons were deemed egal...”VCO weapons FF ‘Commit Rvera) SNOHNGS yove * 3 Many anti-gun activists ike that=oPYpbe Matthews stat “an AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle School in Littleton, Colorado—13 killed and 23 wounded with four guns, including 55 \ FEEES=e59- rounds fired from a TEC-9 semi-automatic assault pistol; Cleveland Elementary School +00 long wawk- in Stockton, California—s small children killed and 30 wounded with a semiautomatic | Wore Wr ovr copy of the Soviet military’s AK-47 rifle. ("About Military-Style Assault Weapons”) anor based loosely on the military’s M-16, ‘will fire automatically merely by manipulation of the ww selector or removal of the disconnector.” With relative ease, assault rifles can be made to mimic Since peop weapons of war. Their potential for destruction is staggering" (Matthews@Agie. With assault , an-gun activists believe that taking vey Poi will help reat crimes that iddludely deadly endings. ban that was plaeed-in 1994 ome 2004, the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, helped bring down the crime rate in the United States. “In the ten years that the federal ban on assault weapons was in effect, the percentage of assault weapons traced to crime fell by 66 percent. The ban worked” ("About Military-Style Assault Weapons”). With the ban not being renewed, there has been a recent uproar of violence that has included assault weapons - assault weapons not only being rifles but shotguns and pistols as well - ending in death or permanent injuriegJA group that has most been affected by this recent violence has been the police force: there has been a total of 154 police officers killed by assault weapons (Matthews, Jake). Within recent years, anti-gun activists have been working on not only renewing this ban but also with constructing a new law against all assault weapons. This ban would include the “one-feature”: if any weapon has more than one accessory that is capable of amassing mass destruction then the weapon would be confiscated on you stort Off your Fentences UeINg "with" o Lor. H's too repenive Diversify it What you cans Write int Paragrep hove le CorrLeia spot ("Why Gun Groups”). With this ban put into place, nearly all assault weapons would be taken away from the public, and those who illegally withhold their weapons would be arrested. Pro-gun activists believe that it is within their constitutional right, as the Second Amendment stands, to own any type of weapon that they see fit and practical. The activists know that if the government were to heavily restrict citizen’s rights to obtain weapons, the act would be seen as unconstitutional. Since every amendment, not including the eighteenth, has lasted since being ratified, pro-gun activists believe that the Second Amendment should too be respected as such. Ifa ban would be put into place, there is evidence that it would not decrease shootings in any way. Since the ban on larger magazine pistols, people have switched over to smaller pistols that may hold fewer rounds but still carry the same caliber, if not a more powerful caliber, of weapon. Instead of having more ammo and lesser powerful calibers of weapons, people have switched over to less ammo, more powerful calibers of weapons ("Ten Reasons”). With this evidence, shooters can hold more magazines of lower caliber weapons that are more concealable making all weapons much more dangerous. With this in mind, if a ban were placed restricting the private ownership of assault weapons, how would the United States government know that crime rate would not skyrocket? Criminals have never followed the law to begin with, hence the term criminals, so why would a ban on assault weapons or magazine capacity stop them from acquiring the weapons to begin with? “If the manufacture of new such magazines were banned, the cost of pre-ban magazines would rise (as it did when the 1994 ban was imposed), but any criminal determined to have them would always be able to get them, including by theft from law-abiding owners” ("Ten Reasons”). Pro-gun activists believe that areas with more bans on weapons have higher crime rates than those who do not. “The nation’s totalviolent crime rate peaked in 1991. Since then, through 2012, it has decreased 49%, to a 42-year low, including a 52% drop in the nation’s murder rate, to a 49-year low—perhaps the lowest point in American history.” Assault weapons are also not the only weapon used in violent crimes: knives, personal weapons - feet and hands - and blunt objects have been recorded to be used in violent crimes more than assault weapons. “The vast majority of firearms that gun control supporters call ‘assault weapons’ are rifles, and during the most recent five years of data, there were nine times as many murders with knives, blunt objects (hammers, clubs, etc.), and ‘personal weapons’ ("Ten Reasons”).