400 word writing response about 2nd Amendment
There is considerable tension between those who believe there should be no restrictions on the 2nd Amendment (the Right to Bear Arms) and those who prefer stricter gun control laws. This debate usually falls along partisan lines: Republicans tend to fully support the 2nd Amendment and Democrats advocate for stronger gun control. However, there are those who don’t affiliate with either party who believe that as long as the police and military have weapons than the people should also have them in order to defend themselves from “government tyranny.” No matter where you stand on this issue, after we witnessed another mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida in February that left 17 young people and teachers dead, there needs to be a serious national discussion about the dangerous confluence of toxic masculinity, racism, and an unregulated gun culture.
At the same time, there are clear racial implications to this debate. Graham’s article points out how even when Black people assert their right to bear arms, they often don’t have the same ability to exercise those rights as white people do. This racial double standard has lead to several unarmed Black people being killed by law enforcement because its assumed they were armed (Sam Dubose, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Amadou Diallo, etc.) while white mass shooters have killed numerous people but were arrested unharmed (Dylann Roof, James Holmes, Robert Dear, Eric Fein, Ryan Giroux, Nikolas Cruz, etc.). So the question remains, do Black people even have the right to bear arms?
For this 400-word writing response, you are asked to discuss where you stand on the 2nd Amendment. Do you support it wholeheartedly with no restrictions? Do you think people should have the right to only keep long rifles to hunt or hand guns for self defense? Or are you someone who’s completely opposed to citizens being armed? If you support the 2nd Amendment, how do you propose the government (politicians and the police) can do a better job making sure all citizens, regardless of race, are able to exercise this right? If you’re against individual citizens having weapons, do you think law enforcement and the military should be the only armed groups in society? If so, then how do citizens defend themselves from potential government authoritarianism and repression?
20181007211630do_african_americans_have_a_right_to_bear_arms____the_atlantic (1)
20181007211630race_and_the_fourth_amendment
20181007211631know_your_rights_nlg
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Right to Bear Arms
The right to bear arms has been subject of discussion in the American public space, with different people airing their opinions with respect to recent cases of mass shootings. The case even gets worse when children are involved, since most recent cases of violence in schools primarily involve shootings perpetrated by young people. Consequently, the question rises on how well children are protected and how much the country is willing to trade to continue bearing arms, in line with the second amendment. In my opinion, the second amendment primarily involves the right to self-defense, but some of the arms of which people are in possession are more of assault rifles and not defense oriented weapons.
(453 words)