Introduction
The 2nd amendment is one of the most important parts of the American Constitution, which gives an individual right to bear arms. “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” (U.S. Const. amend. II) has raised many public debates about the controversy of the topic with trying to limit and even ban the right of the firearms from citizens. The 2nd amendment added to the Constitution on the December 15, 1791 has been questioned and seen different interpretations. The American society is associated with the gun culture which has been present in the country prior and since the introduction of the amendment onward. There are pros and cons of the 2nd amendment identified and will be presented along with the analysis of the gun control media coverage and political discussion among the liberals and conservatives.
Pros of the 2nd amendment
There have been major pros of the 2nd amendment pointed out, such as deterrence of crime, creation of the sense of security and the possibility of stopping possible public shootings. The Bill of Rights, of which the 2nd amendment is part of, guaranties the citizens to carry a gun. In the year 2009 in the United States around 124 million of people lived in households that owned a gun and made based on the Lott (2010) the whole public safer. Deterrence and carrying a weapon can beneficial also to the citizens which do not possess a gun. Based on the interviews of felony prisoners in different states, 56% of them claimed that would not attack a potential victim if they knew to be armed. Beside the deterrence there is also the prevention possibility. Various cases in the past could be and were prevented by the owners of guns. The cases of terrorism and mass killings can be stopped prior to the killings and wounding the victims since the police and security forces are not present everywhere (Lott, 2010).
The supporters of the gun owning are claiming that the 2nd amendment helps reducing the risks of becoming a victim and reduces the overall crime rates. The supporters believe that they have the same right to carry a weapon as the attackers and criminals. One of the pros of the 2nd amendment is a feeling of safety and security. The majority – 63% of the Americans in 2014 believed that having a gun in the house made them safer and the majority 60% owned a gun because of the personal protection (Gallup, 2016).
There have been estimations made that use of the offensive guns in the United States results in between 25 and 75 lives saved for every life lost to a gun in a crime. Besides the saving of lives the use of guns protects billions of dollars of property annually. Among the pros the 2nd amendment guarantees of carrying a weapon are also the decreased rates of homicides, violent crimes and crimes in the last decades (Faria, 2012).
Cons of 2nd amendment
On the other side the disadvantages of the second amendment can be found in increasing crime rates, lethal accidences and confrontations, accidental shootings and enabling the access to the weapon for people who should not have can access to firearms. Some are pointing out that the amendment makes people without a weapon more vulnerable and that it encourages carrying guns.
The research (Dahlberg et al., 2004) has shown that owning a gun makes a person more vulnerable and at greater risk. Permitting the handguns can increase the crime rates. There has been found 4.5 greater likelihood of being shot with an assault for owners of gun in comparison to the person who does not own a gun. The research has found that beside the protective factor associated with guns also the unintentional firearms shootings must be considered along with the fact that guns are the primary method used to commit suicides in the country (Dahlberg et al., 2004). Criminals are more likely to carry a weapon since there exists the possibility that victims may also be in a possessing of the arms. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (2011) have reported that carrying a weapon is increasing the chances of escalation into lethal confrontations in bars, restaurants, sport events and traffic which creates the new risks to the wider public. Based on the Law Center (2011), more guns in public are increasing the risks of gun violence. The opponents of carrying weapons are stating the national statistics about the number of incidents, deaths, injuries, killed or injured kids, mass shootings and accidental shootings that happen because of the possession of the guns. Based on the Gun Violence Archive (2016) the number of accidental shootings in the year 2015 was 1.961. There were 53.228 incidents reported, which resulted in 13.415 deaths and 27.000 of injured. 696 children were killed with another 2.690 injured and killed teenagers. There were 330 mass shootings only in the Unites States in one year. In the year 2016 until May there were 17.841 number of gun violence incidents recorded of which 549 were used for defensive use (Gun Violence Archive, 2016).
One of the disadvantages of the 2nd amendment is also different interpretations, which results in different interpretations of gun control and gun rights, which will be further explained in the liberal and conservative views.
Analysis
Liberal and conservative view and political participants
The opposing views are seen among the liberals and conservatives. Liberals believe that the 2nd amendment does not give the citizens the right to bear arms, but is gives a state the possibility to keep a militia. The liberals are arguing that the state with the federal and local governments and institutions are responsible for protecting and guaranteeing the safety of the population not individuals. They are in support of additional gun laws in order to prevent and stop violence and diminish the negative impact of the 2nd amendment, which is in their opinion promoting greater usage of guns which leads to more violence. On the supporting side are the Conservatives, which are arguing that the 2nd amendment gives citizens right to bear and keep arms. Their main supportive arguments are that citizens have a right to defend themselves and their families and that there are too many gun control laws, which will not lower the rate of the gun crimes. The conservatives believe that more guns results in less crime (Lakoff, 2002).
Republican and Democrat parties have totally different opinions on the topic of the 2nd amendment and the gun control and gun laws. The Democrats could be described as for gun control and Republicans are strongly supporting the second amendment and are against any gun control and can be identified by the National Rifle Association (Karol, 2009). The party candidates were discussing the topic also in the time prior to the election, where it is obvious that republican and democratic candidates and participants are presenting the main party views on the gun control and regulation. The most known opposing political candidate seen in the media is Donald Trump and supporting the President Obama. The political participants are a critical part of the democracy and have made their opinions about the topic known by voting, protesting, public consultations, petitions, blogging and participating in the interest groups which can be seen all over the country since the topic is being highly debated with showing opposing opinions similar to the two opposing political parties.
Media treatment and the importance of the institutions
The sensationalism and exaggeration in reporting on the gun news is creating the negative image which is based on the Lott (2010) spreading the misinformation to the public. The reporting is never focused on the defensive, but focuses rather on the offensive uses. The author also points out the fact that the accidental gun shooting among children represents a small proportion of deaths and victims in comparison to other exposed risks, such as drownings and other accidences (Lott, 2010). The media coverage about the 2nd amendment has been intensified in times of fatal accidents or mass gun killing in the country. The majority of the reporting is about the different opinions about the two opposing political and public sides and about the public opinion. The topic has been at the center of the different media reports and is expressing the polarization of the opinion on the controversial topic. Based on the Gallup reporting (2016) the percentage of houses in America owning a gun has been between 50 and 34% between the years 1960 and 2016. The majority in the country in the year 2015 did not have a gun at home. The opinion about the nation’s laws and policies on guns has showed that in this year there were 38% of participants dissatisfied and another 24% somewhat dissatisfied with the gun laws in the country. The majority in the last years agreed that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be stricter, but the percentage has been falling. The majority is in support of the 2nd amendment, since the majority of the citizens believes the ban on the possession of handguns should not be implemented and the contradiction to such law has been on the rise reaching 72% in the year 2015 (Gallup, 2016).
The national institutions are playing an important role in interpreting the 2nd amendment. One of the most important ones is the Supreme Court and courts, through different court rulings. The political institutions such as Congress and courts constitute the gun control and laws. There has been debate around whether the amendment protects the rights of individuals to carry guns or just the militias, which has been ruled by the Supreme Court in the favor of individuals in the year 2008.
Conclusion
The 2nd amendment is regulating and protecting the rights of American citizens to bear arms and own weapons. There has been polarized debate and two opposing sides, one in favor of the amendment and one for stricter regulation. The debate has been focused on different interpretations of the amendment. Some believe it is protecting the individual rights, which has been confirmed also by the Supreme Court ruling and others believe it does not. The public opinion is more in favor of safeguarding the tradition of carrying guns, but is also divided as the political debate where liberalism views are in support of greater gun control and conservative views are against the gun control and limitations. There have been various different researches conducted, which came to different conclusions. The different results that are many times contradicting must be further researched since this has a major impact on the overall American life. Media, politicians and national institutions along with the political participants will shape the future of the gun regulations and the interpretation of the 2nd amendment.
Work cited
Dahlberg, L. Linda, Ikeda, M. Robin, Kresnow, Marcie-jo. (2004). Guns in the Home and Risk of a Violent Death in the Home: Findings from a National Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 10(160): 929-936.
Faria, A. Miguel. (2012). America, Guns, and Freedom. Part I: a Recapitulation of Liberty. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3513846/.
Gallup. (2016). Guns. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx
Gun Violence Archive. (2016). Gun Violence Archive 2015. Retrieved from http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/past-tolls.
Karol, David. (2009). Party Position Change in America Politics: Coalition Management. United Stated of America: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, George. (2002). Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. United States of America: The University of Chicago Press.
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. (2011). Guns in Public Places: the Increasing Threat of Hidden Guns in America. Retrieved http://smartgunlaws.org/guns-in-public-places- the-increasing-threat-of-hidden-guns-in-america/
Lott, R. John. (2010). More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. United States: The University of Chicago.
U.S. Const. amend. II.
