The Second Amendment


Focus Questions:
1. What issues prompted the creation of your amendment?
2. What impact did your amendment have on society at the time?

Question 1:
Why did the people establish the second amendment?
Answer 1:
James Madison originally proposed the second amendment shortly after Constitution was officially ratified as a way to provide more power to the state militias. Just having used a gun and firearms scared off the English, the amendment was originally created to give the citizens the opportunity to fight back.
If you want to know more click here ---> The Second Amendment

Question 2:
Why was it needed for people to own a gun, besides the officials?
Answer 2:
The "right to bear arms" developed at a time when a well-armed population was necessary for defense to fight if attacked. When the social and political structure was kept in balance by a equal power of armed power. The amendment "right to bear arms" was created at the time of the Revolution, it helped the early colonist to keep arms for the defense of their isolated and endangered communities.

Question 3:
What was [[#|considered]] a fire arm at the time?
Answer 3:
Most of the fire arms were hand guns, others included to muskets, rifles etc.
If you want to see more guns and more about the guns click here -----> list of popular guns used

Question 4:
What limits have they put on the amendment?
Answer 4:
In D.C. a meeting was held for banning ownership of any hand gun. That law stuck down and the decision effectively barred states from implementing similar laws. No state can put limits on it. They way most states regulate guns is through licensing [[#|requirements]] and bans on certain guns within certain classes.

Question 5:
What other people have helped with the idea?
Answer 5:
The other helpers were Benjamin Franklin, he said that liberty is well-armed lamb contesting the vote. George Madison was also a big help by stating that if you disarm the people, it is the best way to enslave them. Plus others helped like Richard Henry-Lee, Samuel Adams, George Washington, John Adams, and many more.

Question 6:
How does this law apply to today's time?
Answer 6:
It prevents the federal [[#|government]] from banning private ownership of firearms by legal. In so doing, it provides a balance against the power of the central government. It also provides for the citizens to act in self defense of a person and home against criminal actions by outlaws. Finally it provides a huge amount of armed citizens to act in defense of the nation and state.

Question 7:
What was the main effect of the amendment?
Answer 7:
The main effect of the 2nd amendment is that it preserves the right of the citizens to keep weapons for self protection and self defense.

Question 8:
What if the second amendment didn't exist?
Answer 8:
Each and every amendment in the Bill of Rights is important, but the second amendment is one of the most important because it guarantees that others will not be taken away. So if this amendment didn't exist then the government would take [[#|control]] over the people because they would have more power.

Question 9:
How would someone violate this law?
Answer 9:
Citizens do not have the right to carry a gun into government facilities or schools. The state laws include waiting periods and other requirements before you can legally purchase a gun as well as a fire arm [[#|registration]].


Question 10:
If someone breaks this law, what would be the consequence?
Answer 10:
The consequence would be jail time. The sentence would be [[#|determined]] on what happened and how serious the crime was.

If you would like to know more click here --------> More facts on the Second amendment

Focus Question Answers:
1) The issuers that prompted the creation of the second amendment were that that founding fathers fathers wanted to be able to repel invasions, deter tyrannical governments and allow the people to organize a militia system. It was created because just using a gun fought off England. It was also created for people to protect their communities and people.
~Emma Moschetti

2) The impact of the second amendment gave the people the power to fight back. In the 1700’s James Madison proposed the idea that the people had the right to own a gun in order for self-protection. For example, having just used a gun warded off England after the Revolutionary. So after the war, it gave the people the opportunity to fight back. The society then felt protected and safe in their isolated communities. It also had an impact on the society by being balanced in power. The government was the people in full power until the second amendment came to be. For example, it provides a balance in power against the government. This prevented absolute control from the government over the people. It impacted them by giving the citizens the feeling of being protected and protecting their self and their homes from being taken by the government. The impact of the second amendment was huge on society at the time.
~Alexa Hradek

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Current event:


Emma Moschetti:

The elected state legislature should be the ones to make laws about firearms and it should not be up to the federal judges. The Second Amendment was written because of a fear of a national army that might be a threat to the free states. For more than 200 years judges understood that the right of the second amendment only applied to keeping and bearing arms for military purposes and although it limited the power of the federal government it did not set any limits on the power of the states of local governments to make laws about the use or ownership of firearms. Special interest groups have attempted to change the meaning of the second amendment to be that any law was against American's Second Amendment rights. If the Second Amendment just added the five extra words at the end, "when serving in the Militia," shall not be infringed then there would not be all of this confusion.

I think adding these five words makes sense because then it would be clear that only people in the militia could have firearms and there would not be as much gun violence in our country. There have been too m any school shootings in America and innocent children are being killed. The states should be allowed to make laws that prevent people from having the types of guns used in the school shootings like machine guns. People should look at the real reason the Second Amendment was written. People did not have machine guns back then and now that guns have changed there should be laws that protect the citizens.

In conclusion, the Second Amendment was written a long time ago when things were different in our country. The state legislature should be able to make laws about guns that protect people and are not based upon special interest groups. For 200 years it was understood that the Amendment had to due with military purposes and the states could make their own laws, Now the special interest groups have changed that and any laws come under attack from them.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com