So recently, I read an article telling readers that we had no way to justify the second amendment as it stands and that we had no need to own firearms, only a desire to own them. Being the constitutionalist that I am, I was infuriated. The second amendment reads as follows: "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". Now I know what some of you may be thinking, "The Bill of Rights was written over 200 years ago (226 years this year, to be exact), how can you possibly think that this still applies"? Well I will tell you why: our founding fathers believed this was a natural right of ours as U.S. citizens. Also, being an amendment to the Constitution, that means that I am able to exercise my right to possess firearms just as long as I do not infringe upon another person's rights. Remember the part of the Declaration of Independence where they talked about protecting "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness"? Well amendments happen to fall under liberties.

On another note, if my use of constitutional reasoning didn't give enough evidence to me to justify the second amendment, then lets try come cold, hard facts. Let's look at the statistics of leading causes of death in the United States.

According to the CDC, the leading causes of death in the United States in 2014 were as follows:

1) Heart disease: 614,348

2) Cancer: 591,699

3) Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,101

4) Accidents (unintentional injuries): 136,053

5) Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 133,103

6) Alzheimer's disease: 93,541

7) Diabetes: 76,488

8) Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,227

9) Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis: 48,146

10) Intentional self-harm (suicide): 42,773

So, deaths by gunshot fall under the category of "Accidents". The CDC breaks that category down even further and shares that of the 136,053 "accidental" deaths:

- Drug poisoning is responsible for 51,966 of those deaths

- Car wrecks are responsible for 33,804 of those deaths

- Firearms are responsible for 33,736 of those deaths

More people were killed by drugs and car accidents than there are people who had been killed by firearms.

Now, do I think that we could add a few more security measures to keep responsible gun owners like myself from getting a bad rep? Sure, but for someone to tell me that my civil liberty to bear arms is completely unjustified, I would like them to consider the actual facts and think again. Instead of crusading against the second amendment, let's talk about something that is a little more pressing like the opiate epidemic. According to NPR, the people of the United States own over 300 million guns. If we were the problem, you would definitely know.