Gun Control in Us: a Challenge to the American Political Culture in Terms of Law and Religion
Introduction The creation of the United States came as a result of the independence war with England in 1776, in which the big involvement of citizens and militaries for the liberation left as a consequence people owning weapons. Contrary to what happened in Europe after each war, the citizens in US were not disarmed after the liberation, but their armament was supported with the second amendment of US constitution, “Bill of rights”, allowing “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” (Amendment II, US Constitution). Second amendment still exists today, and despite the incremental legal adjustments, it still is prominent in supporting the rights of individuals to bear guns. Bearing guns in US became very popular (Bellesiles, 2002). Americans are willing to walk freely in the streets without being threatened from someone. Although, some claim that bearing guns for self-protection is their right, some others in contradiction, claim that gun rights are the main cause of social turbulence and violation. Scandalous events happening in the US, such as mass killings of people culminating with the killings of innocent children, raised a serious debate among scholars, lawyers and politicians’, to revise the second amendment. Who is the killer: the gun or people? Easy access of people to the guns may bring down the social stability and result with atrocities like mass killings of children by a well-armed psychopath. Some claim that easy access of people to the guns may threat the public stability, so the bearings of guns have to be controlled by the state. On the other side of the debate, there are scholars who do not relate the gun control with the killings, “the effect of gun ownership on all other crime categories is much less marked” (Douggan, 2001).
This paper aims to assess the debate on guns in two other dimensions: by giving legal and religious aspect on the
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