Gun Control - Common Sense or Deprivation of Constitutional Rights?

Introduction
Americans enjoy a wide range of personal freedoms, guaranteed by the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. These rights are given to all in an effort to guarantee fair and equal treatment for all citizens. In recent decades, however, an intense debate over the right to bear arms, more specifically firearms, has divided society and caused an important right of Americans to be put into jeopardy.

Constitutional Rights to Gun Ownership
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution reads: "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." In a literal interpretation of the Amendment, it can be argued that the framers of the Constitution clearly intended that private citizens have the right to own and use firearms, within the scope of legal behavior. Conversely, an argument can be made that this Amendment was created in a different era, before automatic weapons existed, before the proliferation of illegal drug turf wars, and before life became hectic and stressful to the point where people resort to shooting each other to resolve differences. Nonetheless, the Amendment exists, and as such, must be honored. In an effort to curb dangerous behavior with the weapons that Americans have the right to possess, gun control legislation has been instituted nationally and on the state level for decades.