Should America have stronger gun control laws LogicCritical Thinking Essay

Should America have stronger gun control laws LogicCritical Thinking - Essay Example Unfortunately many forget the main reason the amendment was created and the necessity for citizens to have a way to stand up to and protect themselves from their government in case it turns against them. The right to bear arms is essential to living in a free country. If the citizens give up their rights to own firearms they, to a certain degree, are giving up their freedom. As part of living in a democracy citizens must ensure that their government is putting the needs of the people first. It is the citizen's responsibility to defend their freedoms, and when worst comes to worst, to revolt against an overbearing government. Therefore, the decision to give up the right to bear arms should only be considered after deep scrutiny and a full understanding of the consequences, with a possible loss of one's freedom as a result. According to George Mason, one of the coauthors of the Second Amendment, "To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them" (W.A.T.E.R. 44). This sentiment is shared by many American citizens, especially with those who are members of the National Rifle Association. While widely recognized today as a major political force and as America's foremost defender of Second Amendment rights, the NRA has, "Since its inception, been the premier firearms education organization in the world" (NRA.org). Members of the NRA help to educate citizens on the proper use of firearms whether it is for sport or for protection. The idea that without guns people will be unprotected comes from the revolutionary war in which America was created. Despite the needs and wants of the American settlers, the British government insisted that its laws and ways of life continued to be followed even though they knew that they were not in their citizen's best interests. In order to escape the over bearing and corrupt British government the American settlers had no choice but to revolt. They needed guns in order to stand up to the British and to defend their rights as citizens and human beings. "One of the democratic rights of the United States, the Second Amendment to the Constitution gives the people the right to bear arms. However, there is a greater right: "the right of human dignity that gives all men the right to defend themselves," (W.A.T.E.R. 44). Many citizens share in Black Panther cofounder Huey P. Newton's thoughts believing that without guns they are giving up their freedom and in turn everything that their country stands for. History only strengthens this fear as citizens look to the past to learn that they must be responsible for their own lives. For example many look back to slavery and see that without a way to defend oneself anyone can become a slave, or the Nazi concentrations camps were guns were taken out of the hands of the people and they were left with no way to fight back. Newton says, "If the guns are taken out of the hands of the people and only the pigs have guns, then it's off to the concentration camps, the gas chambers or whatever the fascists in America come up with" (W.A.T.E.R. 44). For gun supporters and members of the NRA it is often hard to understand the opposing opinions of citizens who side with anti gun groups. "The National Rifle Association people are quite right to be suspicious of the designs of the gun controllers. It is absolutely true that there are people around who,