So a majority of United States citizens understand that the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. In the constitution it states, “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of a people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In fact, there is a widely known nonprofit organization that dedicates its mission to the protection of gun rights. However, present day America faces serious challenges with internal terrorist threats that appear to be brought on by the extended protection of our gun rights.
Internal terrorist threats have risen and the numbers keep multiplying. Where are they happening in large numbers? Schools. School shootings in the United States have been on the rise since one of the last widely known school shootings that happened in the United States, Sandy Hook. However, this was not the first time that a school shooting appeared in the United States. School shootings date back to the 1950s as one CNN report shows. Yet, this might not even be the full story and the data might even stretch further than the ’50s.
In response to more recent shootings, such as the shooting that occurred in Parkland, Florida, student activists took the stage to demand policy change. Emma Gonzalez, the prominent face of the March for Our Lives movement in the United States, took the stage in Fourt Lauderdale, Florida and “called BS on the politicians who said no law could have prevented the massacre.” The March for Our Lives movement spurred a series of satellite movements across the country, where young students took the stage to stand up and call for gun reform in the United States.
Their voices are being heard and states are responding to the larger call of students. States like Massachusetts and Maryland have introduced legislation banning assault weapons in their states and Federal courts are upholding their bans. Maryland’s legislation banned 45 kinds of assault weapons and imposed a 10-round limit on gun magazines. and the decision was upheld by a Federal Appeals court. “In a 10-4 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the guns banned under Maryland’s law aren’t protected by the Second Amendment.” In Massachusetts, “a federal district court judge in Boston has upheld the state’s ban on assault weapons-AR-15 semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines-finding that the issue is not a constitutional matter but one for each state to determine on its own politically.”
Interestingly enough the legal battle for the banning of assault weapons for both states goes back to legal decisions made after past shootings occurred. The bans have recently gained more attention because of the activism that occurred after the shooting in Parkland. The Massachusetts legal decision dates back to the shooting that occurred in June 2016 at the Pulse Nightclub. Whereas Maryland passed it’s gun control legislation in response to the Sandy Hooke elementary school massacre.
It is important to take note of these legal decisions because these state actions could have larger legislation potential. Whether these cases get to the Supreme Court will be something to watch out for as states continue to introduce legislation across the country.