Therefore, an agreeable answer can only surface by fully understanding the "physics" behind gun control and understanding the ramifications of all possible solutions.
Guns" existence spans centuries, yet a solution on how to control them remains undecided. Gunpowder emerged some hundred years ago by Chinese alchemists and, years later, adapted its use to become the driving force of modern-day guns. Since their advent, guns have brought some people a release from their anger, a tool to collect food, and a method of safety; yet, with all their useful purposes, guns cause the United States to have the "highest rate of gun deaths" among the world's richest nations (Carter). In 1994, the United States led the nations with 14.24 gun-related deaths per 100, 000 people (Carter). Therefore one can be lead to believe that in some ways the United States does not have an effective method to control the use of guns. The high incidence of gun-deaths for the United States implies one of two things: either the standpoint and strategy taken is incorrect or the application of the standpoint and strategy is poorly enforced. Either way, one must decide on the contributing factor or factors causing the United States" high rate. First off, the Second Amendment of the Constitution grants the right for the people to bear arms; however, by many, the stipulations of the Second Amendment are unclear. Literally, it 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 Second Amendment is interpreted in one of two ways: the right to keep and bear arms belongs to the state or the right to keep and bear arms resides with the individual. Sanford Levinson presents in "The Embarrassing Second Amendment" that those who believe the right exclusively belongs to the state do so because the preamble states that only a "well regulated Militia" possesses the right to bear arms.
