It says what it says
Anyone who is silly enough to read this blog regularly or who knows me personally knows that I hold some pretty liberal positions. But, I also hold some positions that would traditionally be considered to the right. Gun rights are one area where I am found on the far right side of the spectrum. I believe that it is the Constitutional right of an American citizen to own handguns, rifles and shotguns. While I believe that many people should not own guns, we have to respect their right to do so. It turns out that although anti-gun politics have enjoyed strong judicial and political support throughout the last few decades, the Constitution is very specific in protecting the rights of the American people to own firearms. Let’s review the exact language in the 2nd Amendment:
“Amendment Two
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.”
For decades, the anti-gun contingent has zeroed in on the “well regulated Militia” part of this amendment, as if that means that only Militiamen’s right to keep and bear arms is protected. They do this because it’s all they’ve got to work with; “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms” is a very explicit piece of language. To attempt to spin this amendment’s language in any other way is downright laughable. It does not say “the rights of the people who are in a Milita”, it says “the right of the people“. I’m sorry, but that’s what it says and that’s what it plainly means.
We always get into trouble when we think that we’re smarter than the framers of the Constitution, because we are not. Those guys knew what the hell they were doing. Whenever folks want to change around the Constitution or twist it’s language to suit their fancy, they always do it for self-serving reasons. They never do it for the betterment of the common good. That’s why the Founders made it so difficult to change the Constitution; they knew that some yahoos would always try to change the Constitution to push their views on everyone. A good example would be the recent right-wing attempts to pass a new Constitutional Amendment outlawing gay marriage. Do you think they were doing this to protect the rights of all American citizens? Of course not, they were doing this to try to legitimize and codify their narrow-minded political views. It failed, as it should have - that kind of stuff has no place in the Constitution.
Recently the Supreme Court has ruled on gun rights for the first time since the 1970’s and to no surprise, they found that the second amendment protects the rights of the people to keep and bear arms. This is not a surprise because that’s exactly what the Constitution says the amendment does. I know that anti-gun fervor runs strong, bordering on the hysterical (”…but guns <gasp!> kill people” they cry), but the legality of gun ownership should not really be in question. What we need to remember is that the United States is a nation of widely varied backgrounds and viewpoints. The Constitution protects all of us, even those whose viewpoints we disagree with. Forget this, and woe to you when you find yourself in the minority sometime, and those who disagree with you pass laws against you. Overall the Constitution is an extremely fair document, and by and large is what makes this country so great. Don’t screw with it. It says what it says, and I guarantee that we are probably not smart enough to re-write it to any improvement.