The Bill of Rights - The Second Amendment
November 4th, 2007A 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.
I don’t get it. This Amendment for some strange reason is offensive. When I talk about the First Amendment, I get a lot of positive feedback. When I talk about the Second, people get all butt hurt.
Guns are a good thing. They’re a good thing for three reasons - they help us fight crime, they help us defend our borders from foreign invasion, and they’re the final check and balance against tyranny when our courts have failed us. I’ll address each of these one by one.
Crime - Call an ambulance, a pizza deliverer, and the police at the same time. Guess who will arrive last? Exactly.
No thanks. I’ll trust Mr. Shotgun and my dogs to defend my house instead. Enough said.
Foreign invasion
The Japanese Generals knew they couldn’t beat America in the 1940s. Unfortunately for them, none of them had the balls to tell Hirohito that behind every blade of grass, they’d be an American with a rifle. So, invade they did, and got their asses kicked. Anyone else want to try?
A funny little story. Ronald Reagan made the mistake of telling a bunch of Texans how we need to support the Contras or else the Sandanistas will invade America. The Texans’ response? “Bring them on!”
Tyranny - This is a quote from Justice Alex Kozinski, a Judge who gets it.
The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.
-Justice Alex Kozinski, US 9th
Mr. Kozinski gets it. He understands when the government has become a police state, when they start silencing people they don’t like, it needs to be overthrown, and overthrown violently. I’ve heard people on the Left say there’s no way to oppose an evil dictatorship with force if it ever happened in the U.S. of A. That’s not only fatalistic, it’s downright stupid.
Let’s do a little math. In America, eighty million people own guns. Of those eighty million with guns, we own around three hundred million guns. That’s more than one gun per person. Now, I don’t think I need to say how bad guerilla warfare is. Imagine a guerilla war against eighty million people with three hundred million guns. Even China would get slaughtered.
The last thing to keep in mind is that every genocide in the 20th century was preceeded by gun confiscation. If you wanted to round up a bunch of people and liquidate them, good luck if they’re all armed. Of course, the day the government starts rounding up my neighbors because they’re a certain race, ethnicity, or religion, I’m passing out my extras.
“If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic.” - Aaron Zelman, JPFO
Mr. Zelman gets it. I hope you do too. Because I know, when the economy crashes, there’s always a scapegoat. Having long-hair and being multi-racial, there’s a good chance that scapegoat will be me. However, I shoot back. And I make head shots at 200 meters without a scope.
I agree 100 percent. The current turd living in the White House has expanded presidental powers into the outright dangerous stage with only very weak sounds of protest from the Democrats. Making matters worse a recent article in the Atlantic Monthly decribed how the powers of the Oval office have been expanding since Truman. Not only can a tyranny happen here we are well on the way to it since the next occupant of the White House will probably find a reason to keep the powers Bush has declared for himself. And Congress will let it happen. Tom Jefferson said something about the Tree of liberty needing to be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants every now and then. This generation may be the one to supply it.
WELL DONE ZS!!
Justice Alex Kozinski has it exactly right.
My Canadian SIL bet me $5 that there won’t be a presidential election next November. He said that Bush will stage another 9/11 event, declare martial law, and suspend the election.
Bush is stupid, but he’s not that stupid. He KNOWS how many armed Americans there are. Nobody would want to piss us off enmasse!
you get no argument from me, in fact here’s some anecdotal evidence to show what it might be like in a country where only bad guys have guns.
three gunmen tied us up and robbed us in our own home whiel we lived in trinidad. they know regular people don’t have guns ergo how do you resist when they have one? they have the upper hand. the cops are armed to the teeth but again, the response is pretty slow (although get in a gun battle with the cops and they shoot to kill, none of this merely stop them from advancing bit).
much as i love so many other things about trinidad, i did not love not being able to legally own a gun. especially when the island has become a hub for smuggling guns and drugs in and out of venezuela.
that being said, i dont’ see much need for automatic weapons to be own by the general populace. rifles, handguns, shotguns, semiautomatics fine. no one needs an uzi. i’ve held an uzi and shot it. i’ am comfortable with guns….uzis and the like scare the living shit out of me. way too much fire power.
No arguments from me, you know my position on this one.
Lime-For the people to be able to defend themselves against either criminals or a government run amok they need to be on somewhat equal ground as their enemies. It is fine if you do not want an UZI, but in 1837, Georgia banned the sale of pistols and other weapons. In Nunn v. State, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the statute was unconstitutional under the second amendment. The court ruled that, “the right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, and not merely such as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in on, in the slightest degree; and all this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying of a well regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free state.”
I don’t own any automatic weapons, but if I could I would. I am, however, like Zombie, in that I can hit what I am aiming at from a pretty good distance.
I don’t have a problem with people owning guns. I just don’t personally happen to have any. I don’t feel safe having one since it’s been a long time since I’ve handled one - I think I’d forget what to do. My son is now learning to hunt, therefore shoot a gun. It makes me nervous, but it’s a good thing for him to learn. If he is going to be in a house with guns, then he’d better know how to safely handle them.
Sadly, you make a valid point because I’m certainly not trusting my government right now.
I, however, normally read the 2nd Amendment the other way and dislike guns intensely.
Like I said before I am not fond of guns but if they can save our lives I will have on in my house. I will have a new post up later today sometime.
Well said.
I hope I don’t come off sounding like some radical, but I feel these quotes are essential for those of you who dislike the idea of citizens from owning their own guns.
Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. To secure peace, securely and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that is good.
George Washington
A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.
George Washington
Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion… in private self-defense.
John Adams
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be de-barred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain their right to keep and bear arms is as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
James Madison
I’ll go backwards this time.
Neal - No, you’re not radical at all, unless our Founding Fathers were radical. I think the whackjobs are the ones who want to do away with our Bill of Rights.
Exmi - Thanks.
Tweety - Cool, I’ll come by.
Kathleen - I’ll have to take you shooting and you might change your mind.
Notta - It’s a great skill to have. Hunting is fun, and a great way to bond with whomever he’s hunting with. It’s also great exercise.
Neal - Yes I do.
Lime - Just to let you know, automatic weapons are legal in Nevada but heavily regulated. I personally don’t have any tactical reasons for owning one, but when I retire, I’d like to get more into gunsmithing and would love to own a few, just because I love taking things apart and love machinery. But then again, I work as an engineer for a living so no surprise there.
Tshsmom - He may be stupid, but not suicidal. Too many people with guns hate him for him to pull something stupid like that.
Beach - And I hope it does. I think the time is right so a small revolution, whether it be by the ballot box or by the ammo box. The government has gotten too big for its britches.
The Libertarian loved his guns, too. Actually, probably still does, but even he couldn’t get me to touch one.
I would have thought that the gun-owning people of this country liked the idiot in office since he’s so supportive of their gun rights. Why do they hate him? I know why I hate him.
Wow.. good piece. I think that owning guns is never the problem with guns… it is the general state of mind of the population that causes problems. Fill your people with fear and dissension and they will most likely turn the guns on each other..
On another note, if you haven’t read Stephen King’s Dark Tower books, you really should… The Gunslinger is one of my all-time faves.
Having had a gun pressed to my head in a robbery, I am a firm believer in the rights of good guys to bear arms. Hey Zombie, I thought you would be crowing about your candidate raising all that money for his campaign!
Kathleen - Geez. I could fill up 10 pages why I hate him. Let me just shoot from the top of my head. Weak on border, War in Iraq (where we all know Osama bin Laden ISN’T), cut taxes (a good thing) but failed to cut spending, which he actually increased big time. Now we have a fat deficit and owe hundreds of billions to China. No respect for our Constitution. Inflation. He’s pro-outsourcing, and this is coming from a guy whose job went to India and was unemployed for almost two years. Amnesty to illegals. I’ll stop there, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. Oh, speaking of icebergs, he doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as environmental issues.
Clothosfate - That’s the thing with anything. Crazy people will kill each other with anything, knives, guns, bombs, gasoline…
Granny - Yeah, saw that. Great news!
I’d put a cap in their ass too.
No way I go to another country and be female. I can’t carry my guns in another country, so who’s going to protect me? Try to break into my house and I’ll put a cap in your ass.
Go to a secondary crime scene and you’re dead.
Kate - Love your attitude!
I have no problem with the idea behind the 2nd amendment. It came about from a time when we didn’t have transportation and an Army, National Guard etc, to protect citizens, and many homesteads were too far out of reach to reasonably expect protection from the law, add to that the need for militia and the right to bear arms was a no-brainer.
But now so many have abused the right to bear arms that I am re-considering whether it should be a ‘right’. Rights are inalienable.
I think it should be a privilege, much like driving. If you continuously abuse it, it can be taken away. Let’s face it. There are some people in this country who have proven that they shouldn’t be allowed to carry a weapon. Gang-bangers, Mark David Chapman, John Hinckley.. a few other specifics come to mind. But I do believe that responsible citizens should be allowed to keep arms for self-protection.
Of course that leads to the question ‘what kind of arms?’ A hand gun? An Ouzi? A rocket launcher in the back yard?
Just sayin…
Tricia - The reason it’s a Right is so a government cannot ban a certain group from having weapons. Imagine if they said “No guns for Jews.” Or “No guns for Mexicans.” Then you’d realize why it’s a Right and not a privilege.
As for crimes with guns, you use a gun against a person for something other than self-defense, you should be in jail. I think the problem is not guns, but our jails are so porous.
It’s been proven by scientists who study crime statistics that guns prevent crime more than they cause it. If you get a chance, pick up John Lott’s More Guns, Less Crime.