Identify one member of Congress who has been charged with ethics violations and briefly discuss the reason for the charges.

One current issue facing the United States today is gun control. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution grants states an explicit right to bear arms, giving citizens the right to defend themselves and their property with firearms (Brennan Center for Justice, 2021). This means that federal and state governments have concurrent authority when it comes to regulating guns. Federal laws impose restrictions on who may possess a firearm but states have the ability to pass further regulations such as “may-issue” or “no-issue” policies regarding ownership.

The US Constitution does constrain how federal and state authorities can respond to this issue in several ways. First, it limits what kinds of regulations they are allowed to put in place; any regulation must not infringe upon an individual’s right to bear arms (Capital Commentaries, 2020). Second, it requires that both levels of government collaborate when enforcing these regulations; if one level oversteps its boundaries, then the other must step in and provide sufficient checks and balances (Hutson & Schoenherr 2020). Finally, it also requires that any regulation put in place be done so through legal means rather than executive action which could otherwise be deemed unconstitutional by judicial review (Capital Commentaries, 2020).

Overall, gun control is still a highly contested topic due to its between federalism nature and constitutional constraints on regulatory policymaking. It is important for policymakers at all levels of government to respect individuals’ rights while ensuring public safety remains paramount by strictly adhering within the confines set by our nation’s founding document.

References:
Brennan Center for Justice. “Second Amendment Overview.” Accessed April 15th 2021 from https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/publications/second-amendment
Hutson & Schoenherr Jodi E., Keelan M., “Gun Control Rhetoric Versus Gun Policy Reality: Lessons Learned From State Level Studies”. National Institutes Of Health ,2020.
Capital Commentaries . “Everything you need To Know About The Second Amendment”, June 24th ,2020 accessed 14 april 2021 from https://capitalcommentariesblog357333721609978496180211580949427440737515133520167848601friends13906192192317080584248760579720172088375570251371532832161755874537779789260079373253284722902534937586883009094&type=post