The Importance of The 2nd Amendment to The US Constitution

As passed by the Congress:

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.

As ratified by the States:

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.

"The constitutions of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves;
that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property and freedom
of the press." Thomas Jefferson 

     As many have noticed, as of late, our Constitutional freedoms are under fire. The US authorities are slowly depriving us of our freedoms in the name of "National Security." After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, protection against terror has stripped many of our freedoms away. Attacks on our freedoms started lond before the terrorist attacks. Since the assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan, many people have called for the 2nd Amendment to be rewritten.
     The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Pub.L. 103-159, 107 Stat. 1536) is an Act of the US Congress that, for the first time, instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States. It was signed into law by President  Bill Clinton on November 30, 1993, and went into effect on February 28, 1994. The Act was named after James Brady, who was shot by John Hinckley, Jr., during the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.
     After the Brady Act was originally proposed in 1987, the National Rifle Association (NRA) mobilized to defeat the legislation, spending millions of dollars in the process. While the bill eventually did pass in both chambers of the US Congress, the NRA was able to win an important concession: the final version of the legislation provided that, in 1998, the five-day waiting period for handgun sales would be replaced by an instant computerized background check that involved no waiting periods.
     The NRA then funded lawsuits in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming that sought to strike down the Brady Act as unconstitutional. These cases wound their way through the courts, eventually leading the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Brady Act in the case of Printz v. United States. In Printz, the NRA argued that the Brady Act was unconstitutional because its provisions requiring local law enforcement officers to conduct background checks was a violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. Based on these grounds, the NRA told the Court "the whole Statute must be voided." In its 1997 decision in the case, the Supreme Court ruled that the provision of the Brady Act that compelled state and local law enforcement officials to perform the background checks was unconstitutional on 10th Amendment grounds. The Court determined that this provision violated both the concept of federalism and that of the unitary executive. However, the overall Brady statute was upheld and state and local law enforcement officials remained free to conduct background checks if they so chose. The vast majority continued to do so. This issue later became moot when National Instant Criminal Background System came online in 1998 and the waiting period requirement sunsetted.
      Since the Brady Act, the 2nd Amendment has been attacked many more times. Federal gun laws are enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In the United States, the protection against infringement of the right to keep and bear arms is addressed in the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. While there have been vigorous debates on the nature of this right, there has been a lack of clear federal court rulings defining this right. The individual right to bear arms for self defense was affirmed in the landmark US Supreme Court cases in 2008,District of Columbia v. Heller, which overturned a handgun ban in the Federal District of Columbia, and McDonald v. City of Chicago in 2010, which incorporated the individual right to the states.
     One of Thomas Jefferson's most well-known quotes refers to the Second Amendment: "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in the government." People may ask what Jefferson meant by this statement. Jefferson quoted Cesare Beccaria, a Criminologist in 1764,"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms..disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one." 
     Imagine what America would be like if we could not own firearms. The criminal element would still find a way to have firearms, and the government authorities would have no reason to fear the people of this country enough not to do as they wished, as in bringing us in line with the European Union to form a one world government. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution is the only thing standing between our freedom and our being controlled by the UN. Under the UN leadership, every nation in the world bans the private ownership of handguns and semi-automatic weapons, EXCEPT the United States of America.
     Another example of a reason to protect the 2nd Amendment can be seen by looking at Germany. What was Hitler able to do when the people of the country were disarmed. Look at any country under a dictatorship now. How about China, North Korea? Do you think these two countries would be where they are today, as far as leadership goes, if the citizenry had firearms? I think not.
     Recently, in Austraila, the government made it law that anyone owning a firearm had to register the firearms. These registrations were compiled into a huge database, and then two short years later, the government used this database to go door to door, of those registered, and confiscate the firearms. This same information is being compiled in the United States, ever since the inception of the Brady Act. Any firearm purchased from a licensed dealer is registered and this information is compiled in a national database. Our troops are being trained in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the art of door to door arms searches. Do you think our government is above doing this here at home? Don't kid yourself, they would do it, except for one tiny little thing, OUR SECOND AMENDMENT. Sure, someone in office could declare marshal law, suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus, and declare themself dictator of the United States. We have a man in office now, with the bad temper, he-is-never-wrong attitude, and the speaking power to attempt such a thing. But, he knows there are too many people in the country with firearms that are not registered, and he knows his military would not be behind this 100%.
     People like BO hate rednecks, but, in a time of war, with an all-volunteer army, that is what makes up the majority of his fighting force. I have always said that people have no need for rednecks until their car breaks down or they need someone's ass kicked. So, his military, while we are at war, consists of way too many good old boys, for BO to try and pull a stunt like that.
     As far as crime goes; never fall for the old line of crap that the unarming of America will stop crime. That is a pure LIE. As the saying goes, once they outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns....this you can believe. Take a look at Kennesaw, Georgia, for example.  Several Kennesaw officials attribute a drop in crime in the city over the past two decades to a law that requires residents to have a gun in the house. In 1982, the Kennesaw City Council unanimously passed a law requiring heads of households to own at least one firearm with ammunition. The ordinance states the gun law is needed to "protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants."
     Kennesaw Historical Society president Robert Jones said following the law's passage, the crime rate dropped 89 percent in the city, compared to the modest 10 percent drop statewide. "It did drop after it was passed," he said. "After it initially dropped, it has stayed at the same low level for the past 16 years."

     The author of the ordinance, local attorney Fred Bentley Sr., attributes at least some of the decrease in crime to the bill. "I am definitely in favor of what we did," he said. "It may not be totally responsible for the decrease, [but] it is a part." Although he is pleased with the outcome, Bentley said he was originally opposed to drafting the law. "I didn't think it could be written in a constitutional fashion," he said. "Obviously, it was constitutional, because the American Civil Liberties Union challenged it in court and we won." Among those exempt are residents "who conscientiously oppose maintaining firearms as a result of beliefs or religious doctrine." Others exempt include the physically and mentally disabled, paupers and those convicted of a felony. Since the passage ofthis law not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.

     So, the next time you hear someone ranting about Americans need to give up guns, remind them of these facts. AMERICA NEEDS THE SECOND AMENDMENT more than any other amendment to the Constitution.