The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America
asserts, “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.” At
the time when this amendment was passed, the country was still primarily an
agrarian and hunting society, guns were a household item, and necessary for
daily life. The armed farmer was the principal soldier in the revolution to
establish an independent country.
The framers of the Constitution understood that these gun-wielding countrymen
were essential to the revolution, and wanted to insure the people would never be
defenseless. In recent decades, with the waning practical application of guns in
an industrialized nation, the Second Amendment has come under much fire. Living
in a technologically advanced country, United States citizens no longer have a
need for guns in their everyday lives and, therefore, many Americans have grown
up in gun-less homes.
The recent rash of violence across the country has shown that the ideals of
modern American society have gone awry. Many are quick to blame guns as the
reason for this violence. Actually, the problem is not the possession of guns;
Americans have had them for over 200 years. Instead, the demise of the morals of
society and the lack of restraint of the American public have caused the recent
violent trend. Guns are merely a tool. In the hands of immoral and undisciplined
people, they are put to evil purposes.
The problem lies in the fact that the amendment was created to deal with the
muzzle-loaders of the time, and now guns have evolved into killing machines, not
just hunting rifles. These new guns however, are no more capable of killing
without a man controlling them; guns have been prevalent for literally hundreds
of years without being used as weapons for humans against humans, except in
times of war. Guns have been in American homes since 1776, and they were not
associated with violence until recently.
The current trend of school and workplace violence is due to the
desensitization of the American people through television, movies and even
music. Movie and television producers are businessmen, and they produce what
sells, that usually being violence. With the American public watching such
films, and loving them, the influence on everyday life cannot be ignored.
Statistical facts from other countries show the USA to be much more violent than
most other industrialized countries.
Last year, Paris suffered less than 25% of the violence that occurred in
Washington DC, and Paris is four times as large. The classic society that is
present in Europe does not have the same fetish with violence as is present in
America. “Progressive” generations in the American society are in essence
regressing; the terms Generation X and the Me Generation have been coined and
convey the selfishness that is evident in modern society. The Columbine High
School violence spree is simply one of the recent acts of violence, but it
illustrates how the country’s “troubled” youth are reacting to their
surroundings.
People are taking a more violent approach to try to solve problems than ever
before, and that is certainly not solving anything. The recent increase in job
related violence can be blamed on the increased stress and desensitization of
the average worker. This new approach to workplace problems is very evident,
recently in Hawaii and is so common that the term “going postal” has been
created to describe workplace shootings. In the early years of our country, and
in most places around the world at a boss or a layoff might have been expressed
through yelling or at worst, throwing a chair.
