Salvador Ramos, the author of the massacre in a school in Uvalde (Texas) in which they died 19 children, 2 teachers and himself, had recently completed 18 years.
To celebrate the occasion, a self-gift was made: two AR-type semi-automatic rifles15, one of the most common models in previous mass shootings, and 370 rounds of ammunition.
Ramos , a young man with adjustment problems and erratic behavior according to his relatives, acquired the weapon completely legally.
Simply He walked into a store, placed his order, paid and left. .
This is something inconceivable in any country, but not in the United States, where the possession of weapons is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution.
And, more specifically, by the Second Amendment.
What is it and why did it arise?
The text of the Second Amendment, according to the official translation, is: “a well-ordered militia being necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be violated.”
The 15 from December to 1791, the newly released United States of America ratified the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which confirm the fundamental rights of its citizens.
Thus, the possession of weapons was at the same level as freedom of expression, press, religion or meeting.
In the year 1791, the United States occupied approximately a third of its current territory, with a view to expand west. The victory against Great Britain in the War of Independence was still fresh (976-83), in which the militias had played a fundamental role.
The militias were groups of men who came together to protect their communities, towns, colonies and, since the country declared its independence in 1775, finally states.
His main long weapon was the musket, an infantry device that was used until the 19th century and had an effective firing range of about 100 meters and could be fired about three times per minute.
At that time, in American cultural identity was forged, many viewed regular soldiers as instruments to They were in the service of power, with the ability to oppress citizens, and they believed that the best way to defend themselves was to carry their own weapons and, if necessary, organize themselves into militias.
In fact, the antifederalists (opponents of a strong central government) rejected the existence of a professional army, although it was established, among other things because it was considered essential in the event of war against a foreign adversary .
So, after that in 1200 The Constitution was officially ratified, James Madison, one of the “founding fathers” and later president of the United States, drafted the Second Amendment with the aim of empowering the militias in the states.
And, although the Second Amendment did not limit the ability of the government to apply the law through the use of force, it did take away the authority to disarm citizens who wanted to defend themselves mos.
One amendment, two visions
During For years, supporters of civilian gun ownership have seen the Second Amendment as the consecration of their rights.
“The Second Amendment remains essential to protect the rights of gun owners that respect the law”, reads the page of the National Rifle Association (NRA for its acronym in English).
The NRA, which with 5.5 million members is one of the most influential interest groups in US politics, opposes most proposals to strengthen regulations on firearms.
The defenders of this position maintain that the fragment The Second Amendment “right of the people to keep and bear arms” implies that of constitutional right individual to own firearms and makes any prohibitive or restrictive regulation unconstitutional.
However, opponents of gun ownership they focus more on the first part of the text of the Second Amendment, which refers to “a well-ordered militia”.
Theorists of this other position argue that the framers of the Constitution in 1791 did not intend to grant citizens the individual right to own weapons, but rather establish a collective right to defense in case of external aggression .
In this way, they consider that people should not have the individual right to carry a firearm and that federal, state and local authorities can regulate, limit or prohibit this type of weapon without fall into unconstitutionality.
DC v. Heller
In fact, the approach that the right to bear arms is linked to the collective defense forces was imposed in a sentence of the Supreme Court of Justice in 1939.
Under this ruling, state governments and local authorities had the authority to prohibit individual possession of weapons, as was the case in the District of Columbia (Washington DC).
This was the case for almost seven decades, but it changed in 2008 with the historic ruling of the Supreme Court on the case of DC vs. (Dick) Heller, a local police officer who filed a lawsuit because he had been prevented from registering a personal weapon.
The highest US court decided, by a margin of five votes to four, that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to possess firearms for legal use.
Although he recognized that this right is not unlimited (for example, it excludes large-caliber weapons such as machine guns), the Supreme Court ruled that totally prohibiting weapons to citizens for their possession in the home is unconstitutional, since such a restriction would violate the purpose of self-defense of the Second Amendment.
Since then, lower courts have had to hear numerous lawsuits against assault weapons bans, registration requirements, and visible carry bans imposed by some states.
Today there is a fierce political and social dispute over the advisability of continuing to allow or prohibit the individual possession of firearms in the United States, which is especially inflamed when tragedies like the one on Tuesday occur at the Uvalde elementary school.
At the moment those who defend this singular right win.
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