I read Opinion: “The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms, Shall Not be Infringed”- Gun Control on the Morgan PawPrint which caught me off guard. The article started off as a normal conversation about gun control, addressing the reasons why Americans should have this right. However, the author failed to support his opinion and quoted a person who committed mass genocide. This is when I decided I’d like to write a rebuttal to his argument. 

In the previously published article, the author claims that the Founding Fathers knew about guns other than muskets when writing the Constitution. He argues that this proves that the Founding Fathers of the Constitution would still want the Second Amendment upheld despite new, advanced, more powerful guns.  The author names two other guns that were also used at the time the framers wrote the Second Amendment. The guns were the Girardoni air rifle and the Brown Bess. Now, this claim about these guns would be valid if it was still the late 1700s, however, it is 2022. While the Girardoni rifle was once one of the “fastest guns in the world,” it is nothing compared to what we have now. The Brown Bess could reach 900 feet with only 23% accuracy on its targets. The Girandoni would hit targets up to 375 feet away, but this is nothing compared to today’s Barrett M82, which can fire up to 2,000 feet away. 

The next issue addressed is the banning of semiautomatic and automatic guns. According to the article, automatic guns have been banned since 1935.  The author of the article says that if we banned semi-automatic guns, then we will only be able to use pump action guns without giving any reason as to why this is a problem. A pump-action gun is still a gun that can be used for hunting and just shooting in general. There is no need to have a quicker gun when someone is hunting. Hunting consists of sitting patiently waiting for the animals. Why wouldn’t someone need a pump-action gun for hunting? 

Self-defense is another story. In the case of self-defense, a pump-action gun would be perfectly fine if the gun handler knows how to handle a gun properly. I believe that only people with training should be able to own a gun and operate a gun. If a pump-action is too slow or can’t be pumped quickly enough, then the person shouldn’t own a gun, simple enough.

The author decides to quote Hitler. Now, he does say he doesn’t believe that “Hitler’s belief that all Jews should die is accurate.” However, the author calls Hitler a “wise man”. Unlike him, I do not idolize a man who committed genocide of millions of people: a man who committed mass genocide of 6 million Jewish people with no remorse, a  man who brainwashed a whole country into committing mass genocide and killing all those innocent people. Don’t idolize someone who committed arguably one of the worst genocides in the world.

The author counters the argument that guns are what kill people, but this is exactly why we require stricter gun laws. No one thinks that guns can kill without people. It is the people holding the gun that pull the trigger. However, having stricter gun laws would help in the recent mass shootings. In the article, the author refers to  Devin Patrick Kelley, who killed 26 people in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. He claims that Devin Patrick Kelley wasn’t legally able to obtain his guns because he didn’t pass his background check. The first time he went to buy a gun, he wasn’t able to due to a license issue.  He went to different gun shops in order to buy one, and he was sold a gun even after running a background check on Kelly. Kelly had a conviction from the air force for domestic violence, while he was serving. This means that he should not have been able to pass the background check, which he did. When I did my research, 1 in every 3 mass shootings involved the shooter legally owning the firearm. 

His argument that people kill people does not mean that people should be able to own guns because the 2nd Amendment states that the militia should be able to own guns. We as a country do not need a militia to support the army. According to Statistics, the United States spent 766.58 billion dollars on the military in 2020 alone. 

We are not being threatened by Britain anymore, therefore why do we need to revolt against the government? We don’t.