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Essay about The Controversy over the Bill of Rights

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From the time it was first proposed in 1789, the Bill of Rights was controversial. The founding fathers had already considered adding a Bill of Rights in the original 1787 Constitution, mainly because they knew the people feared a powerful central government and formally stating their rights in this new document would appease them. They did not add it, however, thinking it was not really necessary. Each state had their own version of a Bill of Rights anyway. The framers of the Constitution decided that just because rights were not enumerated for the individual states in the Constitution did not mean that the federal government controlled the lives of every citizen. The debate over the Bill of Rights came down to the Federalists …show more content…

As they are stated, each of the provisions in the Bill of Rights have both benefits and drawbacks and could have been worded differently to avoid misinterpretation. One provision, the right to bear arms, has had both positive results and negative effects. The world seems to be growing more uncertain. Citizens have turned to violence and the people do not have enough confidence in the police to protect them. They believe if they are attacked, the authorities will not get there in time to save their lives. It may be true that a gun will scare away a potential attacker or prevent possible injury to themselves or their family. Thankfully, there are specific criteria that must be met before a citizen can get a gun, so ideally only responsible citizens will own one. People who live in remote places or places with a high crime rate may not be able to get police protection in time without their own means of protecting themselves. Unfortunately, when there are more guns in society, they have the opportunity to get into the wrong hands. Teenagers or even young children might set the gun off accidentally or use it for the wrong reasons. Young children might hurt themselves or others. Angry, confused teenagers might use the gun to act on their frustrations at a confusing time in their lives. They might even be acting out the fantasies they see in the video games they play. Even in the hands of the owner, guns tend to bring a sense of empowerment. They might become

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