Why Is America Still So Free? Maybe the Second Amendment Has Something to Do with It

Critics of gun rights seem to forget that guns are not, first and foremost, for hunting or preventing a burglary but rather to ensure that governments don’t get out of control.

One of the most hotly contested flash points of politics today is the right to keep and bear arms. Politicians run campaigns around the issue, celebrities take to the screens to demand an end to guns, and countless dollars are pumped into advertising and lobbying.

The root of the issue is far from recent, long removed from Sandy Hook or Aurora. Rather, it lies in the birth of the Constitution.

In the wake of a failed attempt at decentralizing government under the Articles of Confederation the Founding Fathers decided the colonies needed a stronger federal government to unite them. However, there were detractors who were unwilling to relinquish their freedoms to a powerful centralized government, reminding them of the very tyranny they had just defeated. The aptly named Federalists and Anti-Federalists came to a conclusion: the addition of a Bill of Rights, which would keep government in check.

Among the rights promised was the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment clearly establishes two ideas: that a people’s militia is instrumental to the existence of a democratic nation and that government may never abridge the right of the people to keep and bear arms. These two ideas stand independent of one another. The most important feature of the Second Amendment is the final four words: “shall not be infringed.”