Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2017

then arguably it is to be demolished and rebuilt. Thus explaining America’s mindset of the

amendments and more relevantly ‘the right to bear arms’. This second amendment states:

“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the peo-

ple to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” (Reuters, 2017)

This allows citizens of the United States to be armed with guns as a right of self defence and

protection from government control.

German philosopher Karl Marx, is most famous for his ideals on communism, playing a large

role in politics. Within his work ‘Communist Revolution’ he supports the right for citizens to

bear arms.

“Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the

workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary. The destruction of the bourgeois demo-

crats’ influence over the workers, and the enforcement of conditions which will compromise

the rule of bourgeois democracy, which is for the moment inevitable, and make it as difficult

as possible – these are the main points which the proletariat and therefore the League must

keep in mind during and after the approaching uprising.” (Karl Marx)

Philosopher John Locke, based off Hobbes ideals, argued that perhaps human nature isn’t so

bad and we have ‘natural rights’ such as ‘life, health, liberty and possessions’ (Fieser, 2008).

These rights are argued as ones that come naturally within a society and it is therefore a gov-

ernment’s duty to protect them.