Publishing Your Article Worksheet

The second amendment is a part of the Bill of Rights and is guaranteed to each citizen of the United

States of America by our constitution. It is the right to bear arms which means the government cannot

prohibit a citizen from owning a gun for his own protection. It states that” 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. “* This was written into our constitution by our founding fathers who drafted the document

to prohibit the government’s control of its citizenry. Because the British government had the power to

come into citizen’s home and confiscate their guns, thus emphasizing governmental rights over

individual rights, they felt this was necessary. This second amendment has been a “sacred” part of our

society since its implementation in Dec of 1791. Advocates of the second amendment today are found in

both the Republican and Democratic Party. The Republican Party takes a wider view of the types of

weapons and number of weapons that are guaranteed by the second amendment than the Democratic

Party. The Democratic Party does not believe that ownership of multiple machine guns are what the

founding fathers had in mind.

The landmark case of Heller vs District of Columbia in June of 2008 upheld the second amendment rights

of Mr. Heller to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia for traditional lawful purpose

such as self defense within a home. Mr Heller was a police office. He was prohibited by the District of

Columbia from having a weapon at home as well as at work. This court case became the precedence for

future court cases.

There have been a plethora of cases that have been brought before the Supreme Court regarding

second amendment rights. The Judicial , legislative and executive branches of our government have all

contributed to the laws of our land in relation to our citizen’s second amendment rights. One example

is Norman vs Florida in 2017 which dealt with the Florida open carry law. The Supreme Court ruled that

Mr. Norman openly carrying a gun did not violate the second amendment. In this case Dale Lee Norman

challenged Florida in the 4th District court of appeals and won. The court decided that Norman had the

right to openly carry a gun due to his second amendment rights. This ruling has now been appealed to

the Supreme Court. Another recent case is McDonald vs City of Chicago in 2010. In this case McDonald,

a retired African –American custodian and others filed suit to challenge provisions of a 1982 Chicago law

that banned the new registration of hand guns and made registration a prerequisite to owning a fire

arm. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the second amendment guarantees the right to bear arms

without registration.

In conclusion, this debate over what our founding fathers meant years ago by the second amendment

continues and will not be agreed upon by our citizens in the near future. One thing that both parties

and most citizens agree on is that our citizens will have the right to own a gun. Restrictions upon how

many guns and the types of weapons allowed vary. It appears from recent court cases that the Supreme

Court has taken the view of finding for the defendant in most cases. They have upheld the right of the

individual to own and carry a gun paramount to the rights of government to restrict the gun. This

appears to be what our founding fathers had in mind

Publishing Your Article Worksheet

Step 1: Print your first draft, revised draft, and final draft.

Step 2: Look at each paragraph across the three drafts. For example, look at your first paragraph in your first draft, your revised draft, and in your final draft. (hint: number the paragraphs on each draft)

Step 3: Select the paragraph with the most revisions and edits between the first and final drafts.

Step 4: Follow the instructions in the boxes below.

Copy and paste paragraph from first draft. You may remove the yellow and green highlights if they are distracting to you during this comparison.

Copy and paste paragraph from revised draft. Mark all revisions in pink.

Copy and paste paragraph from final draft. Mark all revisions in blue.

Reflection

Compare the first draft and final draft versions of the paragraph side-by-side. Discuss in at least five sentences the changes you made and why the final draft of the paragraph is an improvement over the first draft.