TY - JOUR TI - The Second Amendment debate DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3H997M7 PY - 2017 AB - The debate on gun control dates back to the ratification of Second Amendment in 1791. The history of gun control in the United States has issues such as slavery, criminalization of giving the Catholics guns and the regulation of storage of gun powders in houses. The ratification of the Second Amendment was part of the enactment of Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to the original Constitution of 1787. Recent cultural debates that revolve around gun control and ownership lack substantive consideration of the American history up to and after the ratification of the Second Amendment in 1791. This thesis calls for consideration of upholding the contents and intents of the Bill of Rights on the right to bear arms. This research study employs qualitative research design and has elements such as questionnaires, interviews, observations, focus group discussions and case study in collecting data. It is anchored on the Theory of Individual Rights to give a hypothesis that gun ownership is not to blame for recent happenings in United States regarding regular killings in the country. A total of 300 participants are employed for this research drawn from five States of the United States namely, Massachusetts, Georgia, Oregon, California and Alaska. In each of the five states, 50 persons were asked to fill out questionnaires and ten were interviewed. The participants who filled out questionnaires were selected randomly while only senior political officials in the States were interviewed. KW - Liberal Studies KW - Gun control--United States KW - Firearms--Law and legislation--United States KW - United States. Constitution. 2nd Amendment LA - eng ER -