Bill of Rights For Real Life: Guns

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0:23 the Second Amendment reads 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 while it may not be clear to us what these words mean today those who opposed gun control argue it was clear that the founders thought people had the right to have guns gun control Advocates

0:46 dispute that and argue any right to bear arms refers only to the militia a Latter-Day National Guard whoever is correct the second amendment has not deterred cities and states from adopting broad restrictions on The Possession of guns a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free

1:06 state uh that Preamble defines the circumstances under which the people have that right and it means that the people have the right to keep in be arms in connection with service in a well-regulated militia of the states and that the purpose of that arms bearing is

1:26 not to serve one’s own individual private interest interest in hunting or self-defense or whatever it may be but to serve the interest of the security of a free state the Second Amendment is one of the most clear parts of the entire Constitution occasionally I hear an argument that it’s very obscure and we

1:47 really don’t know what the framers meant when they said that the people have a right to keep in bare arms and that right shall not be infringed I mean I don’t know what part of the term INF friends that they don’t understand uh or the word people or the word keeper bear or arms I mean um the framers were talking about people they they used the

2:08 word people and they discussed the people have a right to assemble um if they were talking about there’s an argument that the Second Amendment only guarantees a state right to maintain a militia well states don’t have rights they have powers the federal government has powers Congress has enumerated powers the president has the executive power James Madison wrote the

2:30 Constitution and the guy was really brilliant especially in terms of the consistency of his word choice governmental bodies have powers individuals have rights the first battle of the American Revolution was fought over gun control on April 19th

2:51 1775 a British column was sent from Boston to seize the cash of guns in conquered the Minute Men found out and fought the British at Lexington to keep them from seizing their guns the militia were unorganized colonists who had reached the breaking point of British oppression at the time of the writing of

3:12 the Constitution the militia was really a formal system of uh nearly Universal military service in which uh most of the white male population between the ages of 18 and 45 was require ired to serve in this organized military force for the

3:34 framers who weren’t familiar with our modern habits of of assuming that everything should be regulated um for them to say that the militia was well regulated meant among other things that it was not overly regulated or not inappropriately regulated and one of the and and the second amendment was specifically designed to prevent one

3:57 form of inappropriate regulation of the militia namely a regulation that disarmed the citizenry at large the second amendment was not controversial to the founders and indeed provoked the least amount of debate of any provision in the Bill of Rights controversy would be an understatement to describe the fight today over what the Second

4:17 Amendment means and what the answer means for gun control the purpose of the Second Amendment to protect the people’s fundamental right to protect themselves against oppression that continues to to have considerable importance today and a lot of the gun control laws that that that that are enacted in some of the states and

4:39 localities uh represent a real infringement on that very important constitutional right the Second Amendment uh is not a barrier uh to gun control laws of uh varying uh degrees of effect uh in fact um all all manner of

5:00 gun control laws have been upheld against Second Amendment challenge uh from for example uh the ban on machine guns the ban on assault weapons uh various licensing and registration uh schemes at the uh state level um all have been upheld uh and the reason is

5:24 that the courts have said that the test here is where is is whether the possession of a gun is in connection with service in a well-regulated militia the founders thought an armed populace was a sure way to prevent tyranny from taking root in America they

5:44 thought guns were important for defense against those who would threaten Liberty now with over 200 years of democracy behind us do we still need need guns well many many Americans obviously feel that they need uh

6:05 firearms for various purposes um for hunting for recreational shooting uh for self-defense for example and the the question of whether those folks should be allowed to have those guns is a matter for our elected representatives it’s a matter for state legislators it’s a matter for the US Congress when you

6:25 look at Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and the fact that the victims of the Holocaust had no way to defend themselves they had no no firearms no arms so this is um we can’t assume that we live in a perfect society and that we always will that you have to maintain institutions that that gave you that society and that um that help protect

6:48 your Liberty and I think the right to keep in bear arms like the other provisions of the Bill of Rights all contribute to maintaining a free Society in some countries guns are forbidden from private ownership and people live in peace in others government oppresses unarmed people we must decide what rights the Second

7:08 Amendment recognizes and what if any restrictions can be placed on those rights I’m Tim O’Brien