How well I remember when Charlton Heston said those words in 1998 after being elected president of the NRA. I was a third year history major at Florida Atlantic University. I remember wanting to become a teacher so that I could “arm” my students, not with guns, but the with historical knowledge of the reasons for the inclusion of the “right to bear arms” in the Bill of Rights so that they could remove that gun and other guns that we just do not need in anyone’s hands.
Shortly after Heston’s remarks, I engaged in a discussion with a younger person, likely in his twenties, about the Second Amendment Right To Bear Arms. I was quite shocked when he told me that Amendment was put in place to enable the citizens of the United States to protect themselves from the government. I explained that the Framers of the Constitution actually were not so sure about the ability of the common people, specifically male voters, to make the best decisions. They surely would not have considered arming those men to rise up against the very government their new Constitution created.
But a lack of familiarity and understanding of the history surrounding the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the years under the Articles of Confederation and the events, particularly Shays Rebellion, which lead to the drafting of the Constitution and the forming of a new government has lead to such a misinterpretation and misunderstanding of why the Second amendment is even in the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights, itself, was not part of the Constitution and was proposed as a way of gaining more support for ratification of the Constitution. Once the Constitution was ratified, some supporters saw no need to even bother with adding the Bill of Rights. James Madison, however, insisted that they must follow through on their promise to add the Bill of Rights.
The first ten amendments and the freedoms each guarantees reflect the experiences the colonists had during the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. Regardless of whether the Constitution could never infringe on certain rights, those with a strong distrust of government sought more protection so that they would never again be subjected to what they believed were violations of their basic rights. Each amendment represents a right denied or in the case of housing and quartering troops something which was forced upon the colonists by the British.
The Second Amendment states: 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.
The purpose of arming the citizens was to provide for protection, not for the people against the over-reaching government, but for the States and the country as a whole. The colonists were not quite ready to accept that a standing army was necessary and not a threat to anyone’s freedom. The fear was that someone could gain control of the army and use military force to gain control of the country.
I have no objection to the right to protect oneself. I object to semi-automatic weapons which any sane and reasonable person knows and understand should and ought to be banned. I object to not even being able to have a discussion about gun control and reasonable laws to protect people. I object to children finding guns so easily and killing others accidentally. The argument against any gun control laws is, of course, that it is just the beginning of an attempt to ban all weapons and take away all guns and eventually all rights. Not true, but always a good response to fuel the fires and raise opposition to sane and reasonable gun control laws. Heston spoke seventeen years ago. How may more lives will be lost before we decide to speak up and speak out? How many more years will pass before we stop this madness? We do not live in the frontier or in the “wild, wild west with shootouts at the O.K. corral.” We have moved beyond those days.
Moderately liberal, liberally moderate, American flag waving Democrat! Bachelor of Arts in History with concentration in Early American History and Abraham Lincoln
Graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts Degree online in American History at Southern New Hampshire University