In Today’s America, where the citizens of America no longer have trust in the stability of government, our Natural rights, and the intended purpose of individual liberties, are more precious than ever.
In the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Founding Fathers passed what is collectively called the Bill of Rights. These amendments put into the constitutional framework, “Specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically granted to the U.S. Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.” The Bill of Rights is thus an enumeration of natural, or inalienable, rights.
Some have long mistakenly considered Natural rights to be granted by the United States Government. This is categorically false. Natural rights, otherwise known as inalienable rights, are rights that cannot be surrendered by citizens to the government.
Unfortunately, in today’s America, we have a growing Gini-coefficient rate; which in essence is wealth disparity, nearly zero domestic manufacturing, too many under-employed Americans et al. This has led to division and despair. Donald Trump and his administration have done much to fuel the flames of division, deceit, corruption, mistrust, racial-hatred, and much more.
Many Americans, politicians, beltway pundits, and the like believe Donald Trump is the cause of many of our ills. Namely racial-hatred, which too many Americans believe has led to the rash of mass shootings in America. Instead of being introspective, and undergoing an autopsy of sorts to investigate what the leading causes of this rash of mass shootings are, the political left and their allies are clamoring for action against gun ownership.
The right to bear arms is a natural right. It is the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which is part of our Bill of Rights. This right is non-negotiable. The many have attempted to parse the intended purpose of the Second Amendment. But there is no parsing needed. The purpose is exactly as it’s written in the Constitution. Gun ownership is a natural right. Therefore the government cannot impede, restrict, or regulate gun ownership. Any restrictions upon the Second Amendment is tantamount to government tyranny.
Throughout history, governments who have stripped gun rights from their citizens have gone on to commit mass genocide against populations. When people stop to think about this, Mao’s China, Stalin’s USSR, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia should come to mind. Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot stripped their people of personal protection and went on to leave their countries awash in killing fields, to the tune of 250+ million people massacred.
The late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court John Paul Stevens, over his later years, was a vocal opponent of the Second Amendment. He believed the government should utilize Article V amendment procedures to “Weaken gun owners’ ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation.” In that, Stevens essentially believed that killing the Second Amendment would result in killing the foundation for our natural right to Gun ownership. If this isn’t Government Tyranny, I am unsure what is.
As a global superpower, America must continue to be on the cutting edge of and stand as a beacon of liberty and natural rights. We cannot kowtow to the tyranny of the mob, nor the tyranny of government, and cede our rights. What will become of America then? We would lose our Republic and our legitimacy as a country founded on the principles of liberty. America would become a failed experiment and descend into chaos and despotic tyranny.
There is no doubt that America is going through a period of turmoil. Let’s not exacerbate it by attacking natural rights and namely the Second Amendment with universal background checks, Red Flag laws, the confiscation of “Military-style assault weapons” or anything of that sort. If we were to kowtow, and consent to “gun buybacks,” universal background checks, Red flag laws, or any combination thereof, we have ceded the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments, and tyranny wins.
We cannot be ho-hum about this. Gun-ownership has existed for the purpose of self-defense/preservation, hunting, hobby, and the right to private property for 230 years. A gun is an inanimate object. Let’s not be rash and attack the rights of law-abiding citizens because bad people commit crimes. That is not the America we have been, nor the America we want to be.
If America loses its ability to be intuitive, innovative, and cutting edge, and reverts to the tyranny of past Governments, we are no longer America. Yes, at this moment in American history, we are suffering from domestic terrorism, extremism, anger, mistrust, a mass disparity in income inequality, mental illness, and much more. Neither guns nor gun ownership is the root cause of any of these problems. Guns don’t kill, people do. Let’s dig deep, and investigate through intuitive, innovative means, as to how we can avoid the next mass shooting. Let’s ascertain why they have been occurring more frequently rather than react by attacking our natural rights.
To Americans I say, we can do better, we can be better, we are better than that.
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Editor’s Note: All liberty-minded conservatives can agree that the right of the law-abiding to bear arms should never be infringed. But there is some ambiguity among some in the broad center-right coalition as to whether certain legislative suggestions would in fact impact the rights of the law-abiding if crafted properly and with the input of 2nd Amendment supporters.
Specifically, there has been an ongoing debate here at The Liberty Hawk and in social media about Red Flag Laws. I encourage all readers to browse the various opinions on Red Flag Laws here at The Liberty Hawk and elsewhere and to offer your own opinions and ideas related to this law and other suggestions for ways to respond to mass shootings in ways that effectively work to thwart them while still affirming the natural rights of law-abiding citizens.
Our joint goal should be to shift the focus away from guns and law-abiding gun owners and towards the depraved souls who plan and carry out these horrible crimes. -Justin
- Natural Rights and the Second Amendment - October 2, 2019