The Second Amendment Of The United States - 2402 Words

The United States of America has always been referred to as the land of the free. The United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights were put in place to ensure that the citizen’s basic rights were not violated. Even with these documents in place, certain rights have often been the center of heavy debate. The fourth amendment which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, or the first amendment which protects free speech, or the fifth amendment which protects you from self incrimination. Of all these rights that have been brought into question, the most recent is the second amendment which secures the right for the people to keep and bear arms. Many people believe that there is no reason for anyone to need certain†¦show more content†¦It wasn t until the 1930’s when opponents of the second amendment started to take action at the federal level. One law that was established at this time was the National Firearms Act of 1934. The National firearms Act stated that any weapon considered a machine gun or short barreled rifle, including sawed off shotguns, would have a tax of $200 imposed on the transfer of that weapon. During this period Homer Cummings, the attorney general for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a very anti second amendment politician. He began developing a plan to create a national registry, controlled by the central government, to keep track of guns and their owners. Unfortunately for Cummings, his plans quickly became unpopular when World War II started. People quickly realized the importance of having a firearm handy when the need arises. Gun control advocates seized their push for gun control measures until a further time. It wasn t until the 1960’s when gun control was brought back up, this time stronger than ever before. They used the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, and JFK to fuel their campaign against guns. This was the perfect time to go after the second amendment as modern liberalism had become the dominant political view in the country. It didn’t help that at this time the Vietnam war was taking place. This added to the dislike of guns as many people were against the war and violence.