Reference no: EM134006058
Assignment:
There is considerable tension between people who believe there should be no restrictions on the 2nd Amendment (the Right to Bear Arms) and people who prefer stricter gun control laws. This debate often falls along partisan lines: the Republican Party believes no limits should be placed on 2nd Amendment rights. At the same time, the Democratic Party generally advocates for stronger gun restrictions. However, others don't affiliate with either party and believe that as long as the police and the military have weapons, the people should also have them to defend themselves from "government tyranny." No matter where you stand on this issue, after witnessing the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 students and teachers dead, the back-to-back massacres in August 2019 in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, or the recent mass killings of Black shoppers in Buffalo, New York, and Latinx school children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas, there needs to be a serious national discussion about the dangerous confluence of toxic masculinity, racism, mental health, and unregulated gun culture.
At the same time, there are clear racial implications to this debate. Graham's article points out that even when Black people assert their right to bear arms, they often don't have the same ability to exercise those rights as white people. This racial double standard has led to several unarmed Black people being killed by law enforcement because cops assumed they were armed, such as Sam Dubose, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Amadou Diallo, Botham Jean, Stephon Clark, Breonna TaylorLinks to an external site., Patrick LyoyaLinks to an external site., etc. In contrast, white mass shooters have killed numerous people but were arrested unharmed, such as Dylann Roof, James Holmes, Robert Dear, Ryan Giroux, Nikolas Cruz, Patrick Crusius, Kyle Rittenhouse, or Payton GrendonLinks to an external site. in Buffalo. Thus, the question remains, do Black people have the right to bear arms?
1.) Do you support it wholeheartedly with no restrictions?
2.) Do you think people should have the right only to keep long rifles to hunt or handguns for self-defense?
3.) Or are you someone who's completely opposed to citizens being armed? If you support the 2nd Amendment, how do you propose the government (politicians and the police) can do a better job making sure all citizens, regardless of race, can exercise this right?
4.) If you're against individual citizens having weapons, do you think law enforcement and the military should be the only armed groups in society? How do citizens defend themselves from potential government authoritarianism and repression if so?