O’Neal-Freeman | 1

Alice O’Neal-Freeman

Ms. Russel

CAP 10 Dystopian Interdisciplinary

4 October 2019

A Nation Full of Machine Guns

Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Pulse NightClub. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High

School. Since the Sandy Hook shooting, mass shootings have resulted in the deaths of more than

2,300 people, and wounded 8,400 more (Lopez). America has been unable to put an end to these

shootings, or even successfully ban military-style guns, which are mass killing machines. The

main reason for this failure is the widespread misinterpretation of the Second Amendment of the

US Constitution. The confusing phrasing of this amendment has led to a misunderstanding of its

purpose, but when one looks into the context of its creation, its true purpose of limiting

government becomes evident. However, people in the US have latched onto their belief that the

Second Amendment gives them the right to own guns, including military-style guns, and refuse

to give it up. The US has misinterpreted the Second Amendment of the Constitution, allowing

people to possess military-style weapons, and therefore encouraging the occurrence of a

dystopian scenario.

The original purpose of the Second Amendment of the Constitution, to limit government,

has been lost. When the framers were drafting the Constitution, fears of a tyrannical​, ​oppressive

government akin to King George VI’s were still prevalent. Because of this, one of the main

principles of government the framers were focused on instituting was limited​ ​government. In

order to ensure the government would not be given the tools to oppress, and to limit the
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government, the framers worked around allowing the government a standing army. Militias were

created, made up of armed civilians who received a small amount of training. Militias could be

called for an emergency, to quell a rebellion, or other such matters, but could not be manipulated

by the government because they were made up of the citizens themselves (Lund et al.). The

amendment was also originally meant to provide the people with a means of fighting back, or

rebelling against an oppressive government. This contributes to the idea of limiting government

in multiple ways to prevent tyranny. The Second Amendment states, “A well-regulated Militia,

being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,

shall not be infringed” (U.S. Const. Amend. II). Knowledge of the Founders’ experience while

drafting the Second Amendment, and the concerns at the time makes its purpose of limiting

government much more clear. However, today the federal government has a standing army, and

the concept of the people using firearms to defend themselves against is comical. The original

purpose of the Second Amendment, to limit government has been forgotten. The ways in which

it limited government are no longer practical, and no longer apply to today.

The Second Amendment has been misinterpreted by many US citizens, who believe it as

allowing them to use military-style guns as a means of self-defense. The Supreme Court and

powerful gun-rights groups such as the NRA (National Rifle Association) have been part of a

wave of an interpretation of the Second Amendment as guaranteeing individual gun-rights.

Former Justice Antonin Scalia argued, “the Second Amendment protects an individual right to

possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally

lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home” (Lithwick). However, the framers of the

Constitution gave citizens the power to “possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia”
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for the sole purpose of fighting back against an oppressive government, not general self-defense.

The original purpose of the amendment when it was written was to help limit government, and

the amendment cannot simply adopt an entirely new purpose now. This misinterpretation of the

Second Amendment is allowing citizens to own military-style guns, such as the AR-15. The

AR-15 was designed to kill a large number of enemy soldiers on the battlefield by increasing the

“speed of impact,” which “causes the bullet to tumble after it penetrates tissue, creating

catastrophic injuries” (Heath). Military-style guns are built for war, and do not belong on the

streets. They are not a necessary purpose of self-defense. Gun-rights activists are misinterpreting

the Second Amendment, then proceeding to use it to keep military-grade weapons in the hands of

US citizens. The original purpose of the Second Amendment has been disregarded, and the new

supposed purpose of self-defense is catching hold.

The recent sharp incline of the number of mass shootings in the US was able to occur,

and has not been halted because of the misinterpretation of the Second Amendment to allow

military-style guns to be used as self-defense. All mass shootings resulting in high numbers of

fatalities in recent years have involved semi-automatic rifles. A shooter in Dayton, Ohio, killed

nine people in 27 seconds using a semi-automatic rifle (Buchanan and Lai). A man killed 49

people in a nightclub in Florida, and a man killed 58 people in Las Vegas, and both used

semi-automatic rifles (Canipe and Gamio). Semi-automatic rifles include the AR-15, and their

existence in the hands of the civilian population is a major factor in the rapid increase in the

number of mass shootings. The misinterpretation of the Second Amendment as guaranteeing the

right to bear arms for self-defense has made military-style guns widely available. The availability

of these weapons, and apparent ease in purchasing them, is directly linked to the large amount of
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mass shootings recently. The steady stream of mass shootings has not been able to be stopped.

This is because of people’s firm belief in their right to bear arms, derived, supposedly, from the

Second Amendment. For many of them, no amount of mass shootings can sway them in this

belief: Ben Carson, former presidential candidate, said that he “never saw a body with bullet

holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away” (Lithwick). Ben

Carson’s assertion illustrates how many Americans have rooted their beliefs in a document

which they have misunderstood. Furthermore, their unwillingness to reconsider their

understanding of the Second Amendment, or recognize its original purpose implies that mass

shootings in America will continue, and their number will grow. America’s misinterpretation of

the Second Amendment has allowed semi-automatic rifles onto the streets. Semi-automatic

rifles, in turn, have played a key role in the increase of mass shootings across the country. With

mass shootings unlikely to stop anytime soon, a dystopian scenario emerging from the

misinterpretation of the Second Amendment would be possible.

The original intent of the Second Amendment has been forgotten, and today’s

interpretation is spurring on hundreds of mass shootings by providing military-style guns to the

public. The Second Amendment is a limiting government amendment, drafted under the fear of

an oppressive government. Gun-rights activists ignored this information, and twisted the

amendment into a guarantee of the right to defend one’s self using firearms. This

misinterpretation allowed more and more people to be killed during mass shootings because of

the availability of semi-automatic rifles. Greater numbers of people will continue to be killed in

shootings, because of Americans’ inability to release the notion that they have the right to own

guns, and even semi-automatic rifles according to the Second Amendment. The misinterpretation
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of the Second Amendment has opened the door to a future full of guns, and deaths. Unless action

is taken now, and lethal weapons are taken off the streets, there could be no turning back.
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Works Cited

Buchanan, Larry, and K. K. Rebecca Lai. “How State Laws Allowed Military-Style Guns Used
in Dayton and El Paso Shootings.” ​The New York Times,​ 6 Aug. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/05/us/gun-laws-el-paso-dayton-shootings.html.
Canipe, Chris, and Lazaro Gamio. “What the Deadliest Mass Shootings Have in Common.”
Axios,​ 7 Sept. 2019,
www.axios.com/deadliest-mass-shootings-common-4211bafd-da85-41d4-b3b2-b51ff61e
7c86.html
Heath, David. “How an 'Ugly,' Unwanted Weapon Became the Most Popular Rifle in America.”
CNN,​ Cable News Network, 14 Dec. 2017,
www.cnn.com/2017/12/14/health/ar15-rifle-history-trnd/index.html.
Lithwick, Dahlia. “The Second Amendment Hoax.” ​Slate Magazine,​ Slate, 13 June 2016,
slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/06/how-the-nra-perverted-the-meaning-of-the-2nd-ame
ndment.html.
Lopez, German. “20 Years after Columbine, America Sees Roughly One Mass Shooting a Day.”
Vox​, Vox, 20 Apr. 2019,
www.vox.com/2019/4/19/18412650/columbine-mass-shootings-gun-violence-map-charts
-data.
Lund, Nelson, and Adam Winkler. “The Second Amendment.” ​Second Amendment | The
National Constitution Center,​
constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/amendment-ii/interps/99.