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How the NRA Twisted the Second Amendment

Updated on December 24, 2012

All of the recent shootings and murder in the news have several impacts: gun sales of soared because many feel they need them for self-defense, there are the copycat gun owners who want attention and do the same, and those who demand for strict gun controls or banning them.

But really, before the late 1970's, there was very little of this murder at schools, where a gunman armed with automatic weapons and takes life.

The US second Amendment is often cited as the reason why everyone US citizen has the right to bear arms, or own a gun. But, the US Supreme Court has said that each state has a right to arm a "militia" to defend itself (i.e., National Guard) and not the individual. That was the position up until 1977.

Before 1977, the NRA was not promoting that everyone should have the right to own a gun and focused mostly on gun safety. But, in 1977, the current NRA came to power headed by a group of rightist Republicans who pushed the agenda that the Second Amendment said every citizen has the right to own a gun. The US Supreme Court then, called the NRA position a "fraud".

It was in 1980, the Republican party and the NRA came to power in tandem. Ronald Reagan was elected and loved guns and the NRA's position that every American has a right to own a gun was ringing in the land. Thus, in 1980, the new Supreme Court position said that Americans could own a handgun for self-defense since it was so popular. It also ruled that the government does have the right to ban automatic weapon availability to citizens.

Since 1980, the Second Amendment has been a political football depending on which party is in the majority. Democrats tend to place gun controls and bans, while Republicans promote that guns are not the problem. The net result of all this is what we now have in the American society since there has been many years of Republican party control of government.

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