HIGH POINT, N.C. — The full text of the Second Amendment Right to "Bear Arms" 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.”
So what exactly does that mean in the ongoing debate about gun control? As mass shootings continue to make headlines, the debate on gun control and the second amendment continues.
"There is no such thing a an easy issue and something as simple as the second amendment is not a simple topic," said Dr. Brandon Lenoir, an assistant professor at High Point University.
The verbiage of the second amendment has stayed the same since it was first established before the revolutionary war. "The debate over the second amendment is nothing new," said Lenoir. People on one side of the fence continue to fight for their constitutional right.. while those on the other side call for change.
Change doesn't come easy. Lenoir says either two thirds of the House and Senate must agree on the change, or two thirds of the delegates have to support it during a constitutional convention.
"The fact is that we can't even get a simple majority of the senators and the house members to support continuing providing health care coverage for 9/11 survivors tells me that were gonna have a hard time getting something like a constitutional amendment passed. That's with anything," he said.
Lenoir says an amendment has never been made through a constitutional convention before.
"There are two sides. There’s the one side that wants to change it and they’re saying 'Look, yes, murders take place with other types of weapons, however, guns make somebody who wants to take life much more efficient at it," he said, "On the flip side, the people who are advocates of the second amendment and want to protect it, they’re concerned that if they give an inch the government will take a mile."
Lenoir says the divide over the second amendment will likely continue as long as its on the forefront of peoples minds.
"It's a tough decision hopefully smart people sit down at the table and come up with a way to preserve life because its sad when you see headlines with 20 plus people sent to the hospital because of somebody with a rifle," he said.