The Second Amendment is the amendment to the Constitution of the United State of America, the Amendment was part of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights includes the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution which were formally adopted in the year 1791 and derives from the English Bill of Rights, 1689. The Bill of Rights is drafted by Congress Man James Madison. The Second Amendment grants permission for citizens to possess firearms. During the British rule in America the right to own weapons was borne by the wealthy people of the society but after the Independence, the founders found it necessary to make it a fundamental right to own weapons.

The founders thought it is necessary to adopt both a standing army and militia. A standing army is a group of people who are well trained and equipped to serve the nation in exchange for monetary benefits whereas a militia is a group of people who naturally support the army in times of sudden invasion either in support or for defense.

The standing army came into being on 14^th June 1775, before this day the War of Independence was fought by 14 militia groups (the continental army led by George Washington and 13 colonies from New York, Georgia, New Jersey Etc.) but it was noticed that these militias lacked proper machinery, training, uniforms and skills and as a result the standing army came into being. Therefore, the second amendment states that “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.” 

In a very famous case of District of Columbia Vs Heller (2008), the SC upheld the right of citizens who does not belong to the Militia group. District Court of Columbia rejected their plea by mentioning the case of The United States v. Miller (1939), where the court had upheld that “In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a ‘shotgun having a barrel of fewer than eighteen inches in length’ at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument”. It was a historic moment since the court considered a case regarding the second amendment, the court during proceedings considered 30 amicus curiae i.e., the friend of the court who presented various perspectives on the gun laws. The court in their judgment held that every citizen has the right to own a handgun for self-defense and the security of their home.

The second amendment in the US is not only a huge public debate but also has impacted society in various ways. The weapons are easily accessible by citizens and sometimes used for horrendous acts like mass shootings, suicide, anger killings, and black killings. Three well-known mass shootings caused the public eye. The Columbine High School shooting is also known as the deadliest high school shooting was a school shooting with an attempt to bomb. The two twelfth grades murdered 12 students and 1 teacher and wounded around 20 people on campus and eventually committed suicide. The motive of the students is to date unknown. This incident awoke great protest against the gun laws.

The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting took place on 14^th December 2012 when Adam Lanza shot his mother in Newtown home and then shot 28 innocent people then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The reason for mass murder was concluded as his mental health problems leading to violence which was supported by easily available weapons. In the Las Vegas mass shooting, a 64-year-old man opened fire from his suite on 32^nd at a crowd attending a concert killing 60 people and injuring 411 simultaneously by firing 1000 bullets. The man was later found dead in his room with a self-shot wound. As result bump stocks were banned by the justice department in 2018.

As per reports, the US has witnessed 272 mass shootings caused by the easy availability of weapons to the citizen. According to the research conducted around 87% of Americans consider this law as a public threat. It not only takes the life of innocent people but also instills fear amongst the citizen of the country. It causes small robberies and pick-pocketing at gun points. Given the situation of increase in depression, the states have witnessed a huge number of suicides by people who possess weapons at home for security.

The second amendment has arisen a lot of debates to date, the two prime questions which come to mind are whether this law is worth the lives of innocent people due to its easy availability to the citizens of America and whether the government should abolish the practice found by the founders of this law?

Reference –
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/46714364.pdf
https://britannica.com/topic/Second-Amendment/Origins-and-historical-antecedents
https://supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf
https://blog.ipleaders.in/second-amendments-impact-rise-gun-violence-usa/