As far as hot button topics go, the subject of Second Amendment Rights is one of the most hotly debated, and due to recent tragedies, is one of, if not the only right of our original Bill of Rights that is questioned by the general population today. For those of you who do not know, 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, there are two schools of thought on this Amendment, focusing on two main sections of the Amendment. The first believes that the Amendment was intended for the State (the Government) to regulate, maintain, and train a militia, or a group of common individuals whom are given permission to defend their lands. Militias have been around for centuries, and were a major part of the Revolutionary War. The second school of thought focuses on the section stating "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." This school of thought claims that while the militia is important, in order to protect the Nation from the rule of a Tyrannical Government, in order to defend their families, lands, and property, and in order to protect themselves from others that wish them harm, we have an inherent right to maintain possession of firearms.

I am sure you are wondering which school of thought I belong to, and the answer is both. And neither.

You see, Amendments are not intended to be dismantled or picked apart. You can not cherry pick which words you like in the United States Constitution, just like you can not cherry pick which laws to follow. You must follow all laws, and the government must allow all rights except for in situations where an individual has lost the privilege of rights in this country, such as when someone is convicted of a Felony. It is my opinion, that if the founding fathers did not want a militia, they would not have directly stated so in the Second Amendment, and also would not have given the States the right to regulate and maintain their own militias afterwards. And, if the founding fathers did not intend anyone to keep or bear arms, then the government would have used that militia to confiscate the guns the population already had in the first place. Citizens of the United States were able to maintain possession of firearms before the ratification of the Second Amendment, and were able to maintain possession of firearms after the ratification. The intention of the Amendment was quite clear.

So, we have established the intentions of the founding fathers using simple logic, now we must address the elephant in the room, modern firearms. During the the revolutionary war, technology was on a sort of tipping point. You had smoothbore (meaning that the barrel of the firearm had no rifling, which made the weapon easier to load but more inaccurate) firearms like the Brown Bess, a popular British Infantry Weapon, and then you had actual rifles (meaning that the barrel of the firearm possessed rifling, which made loading a bit more difficult but produced spin on the projectile, stabilizing it in flight, and increasing accuracy. Think about how a quarterback throws a football, same concept) like the Jaegar Rifle, a popular German hunting rifle that saw use by Hessian Mercenaries hired by the Crown during the revolution. This advent in firearms technology, a more accurate firearm, was occurring right in front of the founding fathers' eyes, as well as inventions like the Puckle Gun, a form of naval cannon that fired multiple shots rapidly, much like modern firearms today. The founding fathers new that as technology improved, so would the weapons that the technology was based on, and thus they did not put a provision in the Second Amendment stating that the type of firearm mattered, or how far it could shoot, or how many rounds the firearm could hold. They stated it in plain text, with clear intention, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

But I am already hearing it, what about the children? What about assault rifles? What about the Las Vegas shooting? I understand, really I do. But here's the rub, you see, criminals by the very logical definition of being labeled a criminal, do not follow the law. If a law was past that stated the second amendment was removed from the Bill of Rights, no criminal in the world would turn their firearms in. Only law abiding citizens obey the law, usually. In fact, we have ample evidence to show that removing firearms from law abiding citizens is the worst thing you could do for crime rates, Australia. Australia in the mid to late 1990s experienced a terrible tragedy, the Port Arthur Massacre, where 35 people were killed by a mass shooter. Soon after, the Australian Government passed the National Firearms Agreement of 1996, which restricted the sale and possession of semi and fully automatic firearms, and included a buy back program, where individuals could sell their firearm to the government for a monetary compensation. Thanks in part to the sheer size of their tragedy, many individuals turned in their firearms, resulting in many households being completely firearms free. For the next several years, murders, robberies, and home invasions skyrocketed as criminals realized that homes in Australia were defenseless, these numbers would not return to normal for decades, and many homeowners decided to turn to the black market for firearms with which to defend their homes. Removing firearms does not reduce crime rate. But do you know what does? Removing hate.

As a man who was bullied during my younger school years, was not a big hit with the ladies, and did not really have that many friends, I can tell you one thing. A single individual taking the time to talk to that lonely kid, with his head on the desk in the back of the class, can turn a person filled with nothing but contempt for the world around him, to someone who will value keeping that one new friend safe. So, maybe give the lonely kid a shot, maybe he will become your new best friend. Or don't, and maybe one day, when someone punches him, calls him fat, or a loser, maybe one day he wont be so quiet any more. All it takes is one person reaching out and giving that lonely kid what he wants, a friend.

Stop hate, and you will stop gun violence. Stop gun ownership, and violence will increase. Mark my words.