Module 8 Discussion: The Second Amendment, Individual Rights, and the Collective
According to Amendment II of the U.S. Constitution, “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.” Militias—groups of men who banded together to protect the colonies, which became states—emerged during the Revolutionary War. After Americans won independence from Britain, as mentioned in the previous discussion, the Founding Fathers, led by Virginia Statesman James Madison, drafted a Bill of Rights to limit the power of the new national government. Ratified in 1791, the first 10 Amendments of the U.S. Constitution establish American civil liberties: the freedoms of U.S. citizens which are protected from infringement by the federal government. Madison crafted the Second Amendment to safeguard Americans’ civil liberties, and to prevent a national government from wielding too much authority over its citizens.
One of the most controversial Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Second Amendment, has incited divisive debate among Americans about individual rights versus the rights of the collective since its inception. Intention lies at the heart of the debate. Did the Framers of the Constitution intend for the Second Amendment to protect the right of individual citizens to own and carry firearms—the Individual Rights Theory—OR did the Founding Fathers intend for Amendment II to protect the right of each state, i.e., the collective, to exercise self-defense—the Collective Rights Theory? Collective Rights Theory scholars argue that the Founders intended the right to bear arms as a freedom that belongs to individual citizens who organize into groups to protect a community, such as the National Guard, which replaced state militias after the Civil War. Americans who oppose this theory argue that the Founders created the Second Amendment to give all citizens, and not just a militia, the right to own and carry firearms to protect themselves.
QUESTIONS:
1. Review the two memes that invoke Second Amendment rights below. What do the memes convey about the intended purpose of the Second Amendment?
2. Who do you think created the memes, and why?
3. What do the memes reveal about the debate regarding the meaning of the Second Amendment, from the founding of the United States to the present?
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