Have you ever noticed how sensitive citizens of the United States can become when the subject of gun control comes up? Whether any given US citizen is a die-hard gun lover or an outspoken proponent of gun control, it is not difficult to see that guns, in some way, form a significant part of the US consciousness. The question is, where does this obsession with firearms stem from? And more importantly – can this obsession with weapons really be justified?
You may have heard of the American War of Independence, also known as the American Revolution – it would depend on what side of the Atlantic you were born on as to which title you were taught in school. But the facts remain the same: from 1775-1783, the Thirteen Colonies of North America fought a war to free themselves from British dominance. Their revolt was, in a nutshell, successful – and in 1783, the United States was born. On September 17, 1787, the fledgling country passed their draft of a national Constitution into law. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution was passed on December 15, 1791. Crucially, this Second Amendment supported the: “right [of American citizens] to bear arms”. This is how most people seem to understand the Second Amendment in modern times – this governmental endorsement to carry weapons is a democratic right, and owning a gun ensures that one is capable of self-defence.
You may have heard of the American War of Independence, also known as the American Revolution – it would depend on what side of the Atlantic you were born on as to which title you were taught in school. But the facts remain the same: from 1775-1783, the Thirteen Colonies of North America fought a war to free themselves from British dominance. Their revolt was, in a nutshell, successful – and in 1783, the United States was born. On September 17, 1787, the fledgling country passed their draft of a national Constitution into law. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution was passed on December 15, 1791. Crucially, this Second Amendment supported the: “right [of American citizens] to bear arms”. This is how most people seem to understand the Second Amendment in modern times – this governmental endorsement to carry weapons is a democratic right, and owning a gun ensures that one is capable of self-defence.
The thing is, I don't believe that the Second Amendment means now what it meant back then. I believe its true historical significance has been corrupted to the point where any teenager can walk down the street with an automatic weapon and consider it “democratic”. This is certainly not the spirit of the document that Thomas Jefferson dreamt of when he drafted the Second Amendment.
Consider the actual, complete wording of the Second Amendment:
“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.”
It is important to understand the historical context here. The United States, barely 8 years ago at this time, had been engaged in a war against the world's foremost superpower, the British Empire, and they had emerged victorious. Throughout this war, American militia units – regular townsfolk who had picked up arms in the defence of their nation – had played a pivotal part in defeating the British forces. It no doubt loomed large in the minds of the American founding fathers that the British might try to invade their country again. If that happened, the people were going to need their weapons, stashed in their cupboards, to bring out and defend their sovereignty again. The Second Amendment, clearly, was designed as a precautionary measure to ensure the security of the nation, either from invaders or tyrannical government at home – what it was not, clearly, was an endorsement to own a weapon purely for the ability to end life.
Another point to remember is that the American revolutionaries weren't using sophisticated automatic assault rifles, the likes of which the military use today. Flintlock rifles – which were one-shot, inaccurate and often took over a minute to reload – were the mainstay of armies in the 18th century. Having a flintlock weapons in your possession did not make you capable of a horrific killing spree – today, the average street thug on American streets has access to weapons many many times as powerful as the weapons that the world's most state-of-the-art army used 200 years ago. This, clearly, is a very dangerous thing.
So what am I saying? If Thomas Jefferson had known just how badly the meaning of the Second Amendment would be corrupted in its usage by his descendants, he would have been horrified. There is a critical lesson here in understanding anything of a historical nature – to truly understand anything written in the past, it must be understood what was being said THEN, and not what it means in the context of “now”. Today, the United States boasts the highest number of gun-related injuries in the developed world, and the death toll from deliberate shootings alone can climb to over 50,000 in any given year – and all because the true meaning of a single sentence of a document written over 200 years ago has been allowed to be forgotten.
