By Jaymz Cervantez

Does the Second Amendment still have a place in today’s society? The question alone is enough to cause a civil conversation to turn into a full-blown fist fight. To fully understand the question, we must understand what the second amendment is and how it is being impacted during the Trump administration. The Second amendment states “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”. The understanding of this amendment in today’s society is that every citizen has the right to purchase and use firearms for self-defense, hunting, sporting, and even collecting purposes. Is there truly a need to modify the Second Amendment?

There were two major shooting mass shooting incidents since President Trump took office. The first took place in Las Vegas, Nevada during the Harvest Music Festival and was perpetrated by Stephen Paddock. This case is significant because it is called the deadliest mass shooting in modern United stated history. Paddock used an array of AR-15 styled rifles that were outfitted with “bump stocks”, this allowed him to simulate automatic fire and kill 59 people. This senseless tragedy led many states and cities in an attempt to ban the sale and use of the “bump stocks”. The bump stocks were approved by the ATF back in 2010 because the function of the stock only allowed for one bullet to be fired per pull of the trigger, and that by definition is a semi-automatic firearm. Banning a piece of plastic that allows for rapid succession of semi-automatic fire, allows for a dangerous precedence. Where would the line be drawn? How many rounds that you are able to fire in a set time? The same event can be replicated by placing your thumb through your belt loop with your firing hand and using your support hand to pull the firearm forward.

The second major incident that took place was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Highschool, located in Florida, where 17 student and teachers were killed. This event sparked the nationwide movement called “March for Our Lives” that calls for increased “gun control” through universal background checks, magazine bans, and semi-automatic “assault rifle bans”. While those phrases sound amazing to the unenlightened, it would impact law abiding Americans the hardest. A gunfight is never as simple firing one bullet and being done, and in many cases where the perpetrator is armed, several reloads are performed. Since criminals do not obey the law in the first place they will modify their firearms to do as much damage as possible, San Bernardino for example. The proposed gun control will only cause the law abiding American to have their hands tied behind their backs.

During the beginning of August, 2018 there was a compound discovered in New Mexico that was host to a school shooting training camp. Law enforcement originally raided the compound due to concerns for the children on the property and found the living the living conditions to be borderline inhumane. Since the discovery of this camp and its purpose, there has been no call to arms from any major gun control advocate, particularly from David Hogg and his entourage. This shows the true nature of their agenda which is politically and financially motivated and powered by misinformation, buzz words, and scare tactics. If these groups were serious about preserving innocent lives from being taken, they would address the training camp in New Mexico.

The one thing that quickly stops an armed perpetrator is a good guy with a gun. Many times, the perpetrator selects a school, church, or busy public space because they are gun free zones and there is little chance of resistance. At the Great Mills Highschool in Maryland, a student brought a handgun to school in hopes of killing his ex-girlfriend and others. A school resource officer responded in less than minute and the threat was eliminated. The shooter took his own life after being confronted by the officer, the ex-girlfriend was later declared brain dead and one other student was injured. The swift actions of the officer prevented more innocent lives from being lost that day. At the Marjory Stoneman Douglas campus, the story was the complete opposite. The school resource officer fled from the building and went to hide while waiting for reinforcements to arrive on scene. His actions were cowardice and allowed the shooter to roam the campus carrying out his malicious plan.

Midterm elections are coming up in the next few months and a big campaign point that Democrats are riding on is gun control. Magazine bans, semi-automatic bans, “universal background checks, and mental health confiscation are going to be some of the biggest topics that are going to be discussed in the weeks leading up to midterm elections. Many of these topics sound great at face value but as you begin to read the fine print you can expect to see that these are ways of micromanaging your rights and you will lose the ability to protect yourself from wrongful search and seizures. A disgruntled neighbor just has to pick up the phone and say that you have made threats against them, the police will then show up to remove your firearms until the court says you can get them back. The entire scenario throws due process right out of the window. A similar situation can be done to those who are suffering from any number of mental health issues, from anxiety attacks to depression disorders, all the way to schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. HIPPA would not be able to protect anyone and a simple “anonymous” tip can cause you to lose you due process and have your privacy trampled on. That is what is at risk with all of the proposed gun control legislation, the common law-abiding citizen is subject to the full fury of politicians and law enforcement and criminals will be able to continue wreaking havoc in the communities.

Chicago is an excellent example of what happens when law abiding citizens are not allowed to defend themselves. Year-to-date there has been over One Thousand and Five Hundred people injured in shootings, over Three Hundred have been shot and killed, and the Chicago police department has only cleared about Fourteen percent of cases. The city of Chicago has been run by Democrats for decades, even banning the ownership of handguns back in 1982, with every year getting worse than before. There has been over Eighty children (ages 0-16), and Nine of those resulted in a homicide. These numbers that come out of Chicago every year are far worse than many of the school shootings combined. The tragedy is that nothing has been done to allow the citizens to protect themselves from the criminal element as the roam the city without restraint. Historically gun control was a means to keep minorities from rising up. The bulk of major cities have denser populations of minorities and they also some of the strictest gun control laws around the nation. Is this how democrats strive to stay in power? They make false promises, feel good gun control laws, and publicly denounce their president?