The views of Madison were widely published before Congress when it enacted the Bill of Rights. [3].
There is also documentation to support that the founding fathers believed in the individuals right to protect himself by the use of a gun. This very literally explained in a quote from Thomas Paine; "The peaceable part of mankind will be continually overrun by the vile and abandoned, while the neglect the means of self defense . The supposed quietude of a man allures the ruffian, (but) arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world .Horrid mischief would ensure were (the good) deprived of the use of them .the weak will become a prey to the strong." [4].
The pro-gun lobby would take all this to mean that there should be no restrictions at all on gun ownership. Although the Second Amendment clearly allows for personal firearm ownership, it does not prohibit laws to keep guns from criminals, children, or the mentally ill. It also does not state that individuals may own or possess weapons of mass destruction. There is nothing in the Second Amendment that prohibits laws that would enact reasonable restrictions on obtaining and possessing personal firearms.
Now we should look at some modern day facts that are often overlooked by the media and politicians when discussing guns and gun violence. The anti-gun lobby would have you believe that the availability of guns has a direct effect on the rate of murders and assaults that occur. During the twenty year period from the early 1970's to the early 1990's, the handgun stock increased sixty-nine percent, but handgun murders declined twenty-seven percent; and a forty-seven percent increase in all types of guns was accompanied by a thirty-one percent decline in gun murders overall. [5] This information seems to reinforce the idea that violence is the result of socioeconomic and cultural factors, not the availability of guns.
