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The following article
is an essay written by Tara Madden - The Bill of Rights containing the Second Amendment, "The Right to Keep and Bear Arms," became constitutional law on December 15, 1791, and 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." According to Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, militia is any army composed of citizens rather than professional soldiers, called out in time of emergency. Infringed means broken or violated and arms refers to weapons. In other words, the Second Amendment means that the people have the right to own weapons and can serve as their own army to ensure that our country remains free from tyranny. The Second Amendment is the only provision in our Constitution and Bill of Rights that specifically prohibits infringement. No person nor government agency has the authority to violate this right. According to James Madison in The Federalist Papers, "Americans have the right and advantages of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust their people with arms." In limiting this freedom, is our government indicating that the people are no longer trustworthy? Or, in limiting this freedom is the government indicating its fear of reprisals from the citizenry because of abuses it has inflicted upon those citizens? In either case, the government seems to be setting itself apart from the people instead of being a part of the people. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. My fear is that the intricate plans to disarm the American people have the effect of rendering Americans defenseless against government tyranny. In 1872, Susan B. Anthony said, "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." With this in mind, the Second Amendment, therefore, has always been the most important right we have, for without it, all other rights could easily be taken away. Today, the web being spun by some of our well-intentioned leaders extends to many aspects of our daily lives, even into areas where the subtlety goes unnoticed, such as the brochures found in doctors' offices where gun owners are targeted for putting young children in jeopardy. In our educational system well meaning educators lack the understanding of what freedom really means, an understanding our Founding Fathers learned through experience and at great cost while fighting against an oppressive, authoritarian government. On the radio, I once heard someone say that the road to tyranny is paved with good intentions and the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. We as future leaders, must commit ourselves everyday to educate Americans as to the importance of protecting our rights lest they be swept away by an avalanche of unconstitutional anti-gun legislation. The attacks on the Second Amendment remind me of a virus attacking the immune system of the American Constitution. If this amendment succumbs to that illness, the whole Constitution is in danger of dying. For freedom to endure we must preserve our rights by protecting what, in my opinion, is the most important article of our Constitution - The Second Amendment. (Reprinted from "The Firing Line") Thank you Tara - |