Right to possess and carry guns
The right to the possession and carrying of guns, also known as the right of the people to
keep and bear Arms, allows people to own weapons for their defense when their lives are in
danger. Only a small number of countries in the world recognize the right to possess and carry
guns and protect them as Civil Liberty. This is because they categorize it as an authoritative
privilege granted to a few groups and people within the population. The Civil liberties Union of
America strongly accepts that councils that are compatible with the Constitution can induce
limits to ownership, sale, and the use of various guns and firearms without raising any concerns
on civil liberties (Giffords Law Center, 2020). Therefore, the right to own and carry guns is civil
liberty according to the Second Amendment of the Constitution in the United States.
Gun control laws and the Constitution
Gun control, also known as firearms regulation, is a set of laws and policies that control
the manufacture, transfer, sale, ownership, and use of guns and firearms by various civilians. In
the year 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an interpretation of the Second
Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Supreme court laid down that the Second
Amendment of the Constitution gives out that an individual's right to own a gun or a firearm for
self-defense.
History of the Second Amendment
The Second Amendment of the U.S Constitution safeguards the United States citizens'
rights and uses guns and firearms. The Second Amendment was approved on 15 th December the
year 1791, together with other articles in the Bill of Rights. At the Columbia V. Heller District in
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the year 2008, the Supreme Court declared that the right applied to the individuals for self-
defense in their homes for the first time (Wikipedia, 2021). The Supreme Court also added that
the right does not prevent some well-established prohibitions that include forbidding gun
ownership and firearms by people with mental problems and restricting the ownership of
dangerous weapons that can cause huge damage to human life. In the year 2010, the said that the
McDonald City in Chicago and all the local governments should be limited to the similar range
as the federal government from violating the same right.
The Second Amendment was partially based on the right to own and keep firearms in the
common English Law. The 1989 English Bill of Rights impacted the Second Amendment. This
right was described as a supplementary right by Sir William Blackstone. It supported natural
rights for self-defense and the resistance to some form of oppression and defending the state.
Any collection of auxiliary rights should be looked at in the state of affairs of the intrinsic
motivation of various bills of rights, thus empowering a group to attain mutually desired results.
This, however, does not have to enumerate the importance of the rights. Therefore, all the rights
ranked in a Constitution are all secondary rights according to Sir William Blackstone's
perspective. This is because all rights are as important as the extent to which they are exercised.
By January the year 1788, Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, and Georgia approved the
Constitution even without insisting on the amendments. Some of the amendments were put
forward. These amendments were, however, not adopted at the time of approving the
Constitution. For instance, the Pennsylvania convention argued on the 15 amendments. One of
these amendments they argued about was concerned with citizens' right to own firearms for self-
defense. The Massachusetts accord approved the Constitution also with a list of attached
amendments which were proposed. In the end, the convention improvements were evenly
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distributed between those that supported the Constitution and those that did not support it such
that the federalists agreed to the approval of the Bill of Rights.
By the 21 st century, the second Amendment is subjected to various renewed judicial
interests and academic inquiry. The Supreme Court decided that the Amendment safeguards the
right of an individual to own a gun to self-defensing themselves. It was the first time for the
Supreme Court to agree that the Second Amendment allows an individual the right to own a gun
for self-defense.
The NY SAFE Act
The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (NY SAFE) Act of 2013
is a law that regulates the sale, acquire, ownership, and use of guns in New York. The state
legislature of New York passed the Law, and afterward, it was signed to be a law by Andrew
Cuomo, who was the governor of New York. This NY SAFE Act was signed to be a law in
January 2013. This Legislation was put down to answer the shooting the occurred at the Sandy
Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, and the Websiter shooting, which occurred on
the 24 th December in New York (Wikipedia, 2021). This Law was described as one of the
toughest laws concerning gun control laws in the U.S. by the New York governor. The NY
SAFE Act is made up of various firearms directives.
The NY SAFE Act is also made up of provisions in severability. This allows all the
other measures to be in place just in case of the invalidation of the great prohibitions in
opposition to weapons by courts. The New York state senate approved this Act based on 43-18
votes in 2013, the month of January. This vote was bilateral were a total of 9 Senate Republicans
voted in favor of the Act. This Legislation was sponsored by the State senator, who by then was
Jeff D. Klein. The following day, the Legislation was approved by the State Assembly of New
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York-based on 104-43 votes. After the approval, the governor of New York signed the bill to be
a law on the same day. This Law's approval allowed New York to be the first in passing
restrictions on gun control laws.
The NY SAFE Act is made of several provisions, which include:
The legal definition of assault weapon provision
The NY SAFE Act expanded the legal definition of assault weapon provision to
accommodate the semiautomatic shotguns, semiautomatic pistols, and semiautomatic rifles.
Under this category, the provision allowed those who own an assault weapon to own then still,
but then they must register with them to the state police of New York. No fee is charged upon the
registration of the weapon. Another alternative to this is that those who owned these weapons
were required to either sell the weapon to the state of New York or sell the weapons to someone
out of the state.
The high-capacity magazine provision
The Act also included the high-capacity magazine provision. Concerning this provision,
only the high-capacity magazines were allowed to be sold to the New York State before the 15 th
January of 2013. This provision allowed the possession of the high-capacity magazines until the
specified date after which they will be sold to the New York state.
The language ammunition provision
The NY SAFE Act has the language ammunition provision while requiring that all the
dealers carry out checks on the ammunition buyers' background. This includes a ban on all
internet sales of ammunition. All the ammunition sales online are legal in New York, but the
potential buyers must acquire the ammunition from a licensed online dealer.
The universal background check provision
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The NY SAFE Act also implemented the universal background check provision, which
requires that the firearm sellers carry out a background check on all their buyers. The provision
also requires that the transfer of firearms should be done through a licensed dealer.
New Yorkers’ repeal on the Gun Control Law
As New York renews the gun control law debate, the Supreme Court has to decide if it
will press with the case concerning the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Various gun
control classes work under the "no-good-news" approach towards the Supreme Court. They
keenly offer their majority views on the possibility to stretch gun rights and weaken the
restrictive laws set to govern the ownership and use of guns and various firearms for self-defense
(Liptak, 2020). Rather than ruling from the first Second Amendment case, the Supreme Court
found it debatable following the City's repeal of the challenged directive. The Supreme Court
says that it cannot decide what could be referred to as its initial decision about the extent o the
Second Amendment for almost one decade now. The finding on the repeal of the City about the
gun control regulations made the issue more debatable.
When the Supreme Court decided on hearing the case concerning the gun control
regulations, the possibility of the same decision disturbed various gun control advocates. These
advocates required the New York state officials to repeal the regulation. In response to the City's
advocates' requirement, the New York state officials decided to do so. On the same matter, the
lawmakers of the state later approved a law that almost made it impossible for the state officials
to change their decision. The corporation counsel, Mr. James Johnson of the New York City,
said that the Court's decision was correct and right. The City's corporation counsel added that the
Court keenly recognized that the claims all the petitioners brought to the Court don't demonstrate
a live case. This is because the challenging rule of the City does not exist anymore.
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The opinion of the majority concerning the gun control law was unsigned. Several
Justices issued out 31-page dissent, which carried the information about the case, and it clearly
said that the case was not debatable. Hence, all the regulations concerning the gun control law
violated the Second Amendment of the Supreme Court's precedents. According to the Justices'
decision, the Court is likely to agree on hearing a new case soon on the Second Amendment. For
the Supreme Court to hear a new case on the Second Amendment, it has to take four votes to
carry out the addition of a case into the Court's docket. For this case, a Justice by the name Brett
M Kavanaugh, up0on complying with the opinion, said that he was prepared in joining the three
differing justices to vote in the granting of a review of the Second Amendment case petitions
which are waiting for an action from the Supreme court.
Justice Brett M Kavanaugh further wrote that together with another Justice by the name
of Alito, agree that the lower courts may not be in a position to apply the precedents of the
Second Amendment of the Supreme Court properly. Therefore, the Court should address the
issue as soon as possible. The New York city regulations though they appeared to be distinctive
to the nation, gave the residents ownership of licenses the chance to bring all their guns to either
of the shooting ranges around the City. On the other hand, this prohibited the residents from
hiding or transferring their guns to other homes or other shooting ranges that are not within the
City. Though it seemed not likely to endorse the Law and that its decision concerning the case
would better allow it to elaborate the extent or the range of the Second Amendment rights.
Gov. Cuomo and the NY SAFE Act
In the year 2013, date 15 th January, New York was the first state to pass the gun control
law, which was declared the toughest in the nation, and this was due to the shooting which
occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo
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signed the bill into Law, and it was called the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms
Enforcement (NY SAFE) Act. The Act includes a tough assault weapons prohibition that
expands the clarity of what makes an assault weapon and limits the size of magazines in a gun to
seven bullets that were ten previously. The further requires checks on the background of
ammunition and all the gun buyers, including even all the private sales. The Act also includes the
imposing of tough penalties on those who use guns for illegal purposes, checking keenly on all
the purchases done on guns and various firearms. This is done to reduce the number of crimes
committed in New York.
As he signed the bill, the governor of New York, Cuomo, stated that the bill is the
toughest and best gun control law. This is because the Law did something to fight the tragedies
that had occurred, leading to the loss of many and innocent lives. The governor also added that
since they had gone through many terrible situations, they had learned a lot as a state and that
from experience, they had taken a turning point.
The Assault Weapons Ban (1994-2004)
The Federal Assault Weapons Act (AWB) or The Public Safety and Recreational
Firearms Use Protection Act was a subdivision of the Law Enforcement Act and the Violent
Crime Control, which was implemented in 1994. It was a U. S's Federal Law that included
prohibiting some firearms by civilians, referred to as assault weapons. In some ammunition
magazines, it was referred to as the large capacity. The ban, which lasted for ten years, was
passed by the Congress of the U.S in the year 1994 on 13th September. This ban was followed
by the closing of the 52-48 vote U.S Senate. It was signed into Law by Bill Clinton, who was by
then the United States of America's president (Wikipedia, 2021). This ban applied to all the
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weapons that were manufactured immediately after the day the Law was signed. The Law was to
expire on 13th September the year 2004.
According to the sunset provision, several additional challenges were filed against the
various provisions concerning the ban. In return, all these challenges were not accepted by the
Court. Several attempts were made to renew the ban, but unfortunately, no one succeeded.
Several studies have discovered that the ban had minimal impact on the overall activities related
to crimes. There was no enough evidence that the ban reduced the occurrence of various public
shootings. Various efforts intensified in creating restrictions on the assault weapon in the federal
section of the government in 1989, followed after a total number of 34 children and a teacher
were shot to death using a semiautomatic rifle. In 1991, other shootings killed a total number of
23 people while other 27 people were left wounded. In the year 1993, the month of July, other
shootings occurred in California, and all these factors contributed greatly to the ban's passing.
The California shootings left eight people killed while the other six suffered from serious
injuries. The types of firearms that were used in the killings were the TEC 9 and the Hell-Fire
triggers.
Due to the increased number of prevailing shootings, in May 1994, three of the former
presidents, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford wrote to the house representatives in
the U.S supporting the ban of assault guns. This Act, besides, included several exclusions and
exemptions, which included the "grandfather clause." This allowed the possession and transfer of
ammunition and weapons that were not lawfully owned during the day the Law was enacted.
Some of the exemptions included some 650 types of firearms, including all their copies and
duplicates. The Act also exempted all the firearms used and operated by levers, bolts or pumps,
and permanently deadly firearms.
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Conclusion
In conclusion, the paper has explained the right to possess guns or s the right to bearing
firearms is a right that allows individuals or residents of the state to possess weapons for their
defense. This right is usually classified as an authoritative privilege, and therefore it is only
granted to some limited groups and people. This paper has also given a general history of the
Second Amendment concerning owning and using guns and firearms. The formation and the
passing and signing of the second Amendment have been well explained and how it has
impacted the United States. The paper has also explained well on the NY SAFE Act, whose main
aim was to regulate the sale, acquire, ownership, and use of guns in New York. This was in
response to the various shootings and killings which were experienced in New York City.
The paper has also explained Federal Assault Weapons Act (AWB). This Law included
prohibiting the use of some firearms by civilians, referred to as assault weapons. In some
ammunition magazines, it was referred to as the large capacity. In general, all the paper's
discussed laws were implemented to control the purchase, ownership, transfer, and use of various
guns and firearms. From a self-defense point of view, the laws need to be looked at to
accommodate those that require the purpose of defending themselves in the case of the
emergence of danger rather than focusing on a criminal point of view. In other cases, these guns
are used for hunting in some states, so putting more restrictions on the use of these firearms
could greatly affect hunting as an economic activity. Some groups use guns for shooting sports.
This is done for recreational purposes where the accuracy as well as the testing speed in the
shooting. Therefore, putting strict measures on the use of guns and firearms could negatively
affect these parties.
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References
Wikipedia. (2021, March 13). Second amendment to the United States Constitution. Retrieved
March 18, 2021, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Wikipedia. (2021, January 20). Ny safe act. Retrieved March 18, 2021, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NY_SAFE_Act
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Liptak, A. (2020, April 27). Supreme court Dismisses challenge to New York city Gun
Ordinance. Retrieved March 18, 2021, from
Wikipedia. (2021, March 15). Federal assault weapons ban. Retrieved March 18, 2021, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Ban#:~:text=The%20Public%20Safety
%20and%20Recreational%20Firearms%20Act%20was%20enacted%20as,as%20defined
%20by%20the%20Act.
Giffords Law Center. (2020, October 23). State right to bear arms in New York. Retrieved
March 19, 2021, from https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/state-right-to-bear-arms-in-
new-york/