The Supreme NRA

Jakelinne Capella-Aponte
Professor Perparim Gutaj
U.S. Government and Politics 1100
December 10, 2015

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Is unrestricted gun access a guarantee for freedom? In a country with high rates of
shootings, approximately 365 just in 2015, gun control is one of the biggest debates of our times
between the people who expect stringent controls, and the ones who favor the gun rights. The
Second Amendment, one of the most ambiguous amendments of the constitution, according to
the experts, is the bone of contention, because its interpretation depends on the interest of the
largest lobbying groups as is the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the other emerging
influential force that is the Guns Owners of America (GOA). Through history gun control laws
have been approved in Congress, especially when high profile political figures were assassinated.
When the ordinary citizens are killed, no gun control law has been enacted. All men are created
equal.
United States has the most guns per capita in the world, approximately 310 million of
firearms in civilians, 10 times more of any other industrialized country, and 6 times more of any
other developing countries. Since the declaration of independence, 1776, United States has been
involved with the controversial issue of gun ownership. The Second Amendment of the
Constitution, 1791, states, A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free
States, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
There are two sides in the interpretation of the Second Amendment. The people who
support the gun control, and the people who are for gun rights. The pro-gun control means that
the right to keep and bear arms is only connected to service in a militia, and is not a universal
individual right. The pro-gun rights means, that everyone under the U.S. Constitution has an
individual right to bear arms.

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Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of law,
says, But when you actually go back and look at the debate that went into drafting of the
amendment, you can squint and look really hard, but there's simply no evidence of it being about
individual gun ownership for self-protection or for hunting. Emphatically, the focus was on the
militias. (web, http://www.motherjones.com)
Historically, the Founders established the second amendment in order for the state
government to organize a militia to ensure security of the nation. This militia has a background
in the British monarchy tradition, where all free men had the right and their duty to take up arms
and protect their country. In the 1970s the citizens do not trust in the military because they were
the tool of oppression for the monarchy. Therefore, the state of militias largely supported the
fight in the war for independence. Today the state militias have evolved into the National Guard
in every state.
Following, you will go through a brief history of fire arms regulation in U.S.A, as part of
the chronology described by Gregg Lee Carter in his book "Gun Control in the United States."
From 1865 to 1866 after the Civil War, the Black Codes were restricted laws enacted in
the former Confederate states, with the purpose to deny African Americans from owning
firearms. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, Equal Protection Clause, ended this
law.
In 1871The National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded primarily to provide training
for shooting performance and hunting for the citizens and to maintain the militia ready and well
trained for the combat. During the next 100 years this was the purpose of the NRA. In the

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beginning the association was basically apolitical. Even though the NRA opposes some gun
control, they agreed with other ones. Is not until 1970s when the NRA went from being moderate
to be active in politics, starting to lobby the Conservative Party in Congress in order to "protect
the right to bear arms." Currently the NRA is one of the most powerful and influential interest
groups that are lobbying the Republican Party at the Congress, with more than four million
members around the country. Michael Waldman, talks about the political scope that the NRA has,
The NRA and its allies waged a 30-year legal campaign to change the way the
courts and the country saw the Second Amendment. And they started with scholarship.
They supported a lot of scholars and law professors. They elected politicians. They
changed the positions of agencies of government. They got the Justice Department to
reverse its position on what the amendment meant. And then and only then did they go to
court. So by the time the Supreme Court ruled, it sort of felt like a ripe apple from the
tree. (web, http://www.motherjones.com)
In 1934 the Congress approved the first federal gun control named, National Firearms Act
of 1934 under the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency. The purpose of this legislation was to
reduce the crime imposed, at that time, for the gangster criminal activities. This law required
from sellers to obtain a federal license, to pay taxes, and record the names and addresses of the
gun buyers.
In 1968 five years after the President John F. Kennedy assassination, and the year of the
murders of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, created a stir in the
American public who angrily protested for stricter gun control laws were enacted. Congress
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passes the Gun Control Act of 1968. The legislation prohibit interstate sale of gun. It also banned
felons, drug users, alcoholics, and the mentally incompetent, from owning guns.
In 1989 California becomes the first state to pass a gun control law, restricting assault
rifles; in response to a mass shooting were 5 children were killing with an AK-47 rifle. Later six
other states (Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York), took
similar measures of arms control.
In 1993 President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. This
law requires a check background and imposes five business days for a buyer to purchase a gun.
This legislation was named in honor of Jim Brady who was the President Ronald Reagan press
secretary. Brady was shot on the head during the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan.
In 1994 President Clinton enforced the gun control law enacting the Federal Assault
Weapon Band. The low, which banning 19 kinds of assault weapons including the AK-47 rifle,
was effective for 10 years. With this legislation the NRA began its major growth in membership
and its great political influence in the United States Congress, against the gun control legislation.
In 2008 The Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision, repealed the Washington D.C. gun ban
as unconstitutional. The U.S Court based its holdings on the Second Amendment of the
Constitution that protects the individual rights. That Amendment reaches out federal jurisdiction
and states. Twenty five years ago former Chief Justice Warren Burger said in an interview to
PBS, that the Second Amendment "has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud -- I
repeat the word 'fraud' -- on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen
in my lifetime."
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As identity, one of the most dominant characteristics in American culture is the

individualism, self-confidence, and equality, typical of a capitalist regime. An American
drives her own vehicle to work, lives in a single family residence, works in their private garden,
and of course, they own their gun for self-defense. Liberty became identified with the
procurement of political rights freedom of religion, assembly, speech and the ability of
individuals to act in any way they wished as long as it did not contradict the letter of the law.
In short, when beginning searching this topic a massacre occurred in Oregon where 9
people were killed and other 7 were wounded. A month later another mass shooting occurred,
this time in San Bernardino California, 14 people were killed and 22 injured. Both shootings
were perpetrated with assault weapons. Both incidents opened the debate to bear arms. There are
increasingly heard voices of Americans who require stricter gun control laws, including the voice
of the President Barak Obama. It is time for Congress to listens to its citizens. The right to bear
arms should not be confused with the right to bear any type of weapon.
The National Rifle Association interest in arming the American people, is economical,
and for their own profit, no matter how many people die.

References

Levintova, Hannah. "The Second Amendment Doesn't Say What You Think It Does." Mother
Jones. N.p., 19 June 2014. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
Carter, Gregg Lee. Gun Control in the United States: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara,
CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006. (p.p. 117-152) Print.
Horwitz, Joshua, and Casey Anderson. Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea. Ann
Arbor: U of Michigan, 2009. Print.