Attempted Infringement: The Founders, President Obama's Gun Control Policies, and the Sacredness of the Second Amendment's Fundamental Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Abstract

The Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution is said to be the foundation of rights that every man, woman, and child of this country are afforded by their Creator. While each amendment is of great importance, there exists one amendment that is vitally needed in order to protect ourselves from government tyranny and usurpation – the Second Amendment. Each year, as random acts of atrocious mass-violence occur, it seems like President Obama and his administration use such events to attempt to curtail the rights afforded under the Second Amendment. The President’s most recent attempt at this infringement came in 2013, when he asked Congress to enact certain gun control legislation that goes completely against this country’s history, as well as prior U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence. This comment examines prior history and jurisprudence involving the Second Amendment, and uses this information to show that certain aspects of President Obama’s gun control policies would likely be ruled unconstitutional. Two very recent Supreme Court cases, District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago, have established that all rights granted under the Second Amendment are of a most fundamental nature, and this evidence and commentary throughout the history of this country were used to establish the findings in this comment.