What is the second amendment?

June 26, 2008 | Oswego, New York | Vetting explained

Viewed 2,053 times
Shared 24 times

iReport —

The second amendment states simply "in order to maintain a well-regulated militia, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". The purpose of this amendment was to provide arms for a rapidly available military force in the form of citizen-soldiers in the event of attack. This was the reality of 1791; the British would invade and the citizen-soldier was ready to defend the new nation. Over two hundred years later, the role of the militia has been assumed by the National Guard, Reserves, active Military, and a variety of law enforcement agencies. The debate about an individual's right to own firearms for individual purposes is not relevant to the purpose or nature of the second amendment. It seems to be that the five justices in the majority might not have scored well in the reading comprehension portion of the LSAT.

Posted in Assignment:
Time for gun control?

Share this on:

del.icio.us

StumbleUpon

Comments

iReport welcomes a lively discussion, so comments on iReports are not pre-screened before they post. See the iReport community guidelines for details about content that is not welcome on iReport.

What is iReport?

Share

Tell a story, offer an opinion, say what's important to you.
Discuss

Join the conversation on the day's big issues.
Be heard

The best iReports get vetted and used on CNN platforms.

iReport is a user-generated section of CNN.com. The stories here come from users. CNN has vetted only the stories marked with the "CNN" badge. MORE...

CNN iReport