The Issue Of Gun Ownership - 1502 Words

Despite the harms associated with handguns, the Second Amendment, which states that â€Å"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†, protects the private ownership of them. The Supreme Court has consistently ruled against gun bans or regulations as violating the 2nd amendment. In the landmark ruling Heller vs. District of Columbia in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that a thirty-two year ban on the private ownership of handguns in the District of Columbia was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court decided that the Second Amendment implies that the government cannot enact an outright ban on commonly held weapons or prevent citizens from having†¦show more content†¦He continues, â€Å"The Constitution is a written instrument. As such, its meaning does not alter. That which it meant when it was adopted, it means now.† An accurate reading of the Constitution, Madis on said, requires â€Å"resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation† because â€Å"In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution.† Furthermore, the American people risk losing everything the document provides, from freedom of speech to freedom of religion to the right to a trial by jury, if one section of the Constitution is redacted. To maintain the document and the liberties that it grants requires a textual reading of the Constitution, and consequently, upholding the Second Amendment. To enact a national handgun ban would be to ignore constitutionalism and would greatly damage the democratic legitimacy of the U.S. government. A national handgun ban violates the principles of federalism found in the Tenth Amendment. The Constitution creates a federal government of enumerated powers and give states the right to make laws regarding everything else. The federal government has the power to regulate commercial tran sactions regarding guns such as background checks under the commerce clause, but the banning of ownership grabs police power that the Constitution leaves to the