Posted on 10/07/2017 2:19:46 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
This makes twice in 10 days that a host on MSNBC has openly marveled at the idea that many, many Americans believe their rights come from God and are recognized in the Constitution rather than derive from the Constitution itself. How can it be that this idea is so inexplicably foreign, even accounting for MSNBC’s left-wing bias? They know the percentage of the country that’s religious; they’ve read that not-unimportant bit in the Declaration of Independence about men being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”; they’ve read a treatise or two on natural law while in college; they’ve maybe even glanced at the Ninth Amendment now and then and puzzled over what it could possibly mean. I sympathize with their mystification only to the extent that I’m not a religious believer myself, but the idea of God-given rights is as mainstream as mainstream American political theory gets. And it serves a practical function. If free speech is purely a creature of the First Amendment, well, amendments can always be amended. If free speech is a creature of God then you’ve got a valid complaint if it’s taken away, no matter how by-the-book the First Amendment’s repeal might be from a constitutional standpoint.
I’m willing to cut Matthews a bit more slack than I cut Todd because, admittedly, the idea of God proclaiming “Thou shalt have AR-15s” is ridiculous. But gun-rights supporters don’t view the Second Amendment so narrowly. It doesn’t guarantee “arms” so much as it guarantees the right to defend life and liberty through force if necessary. Matthews is a man of the left *and* of the media and therefore feels pressure to signal his disdain for gun rights in theatrical ways, but for fark’s sake, at least nod at a basic understanding of the political culture of your own country.
Oh, and what the hell’s he talking about at the end here where Republicans supposedly insist on the right to bazookas and tanks? The GOP leadership has spent the past few days talking about banning bump stocks, precisely because they make semiautomatics too closely resemble another category of banned weapons, automatics. This is what Republicans get for backing down on a proposed gun-control measure for once.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Hi.
“The right to defend oneself is god given and natural. “
Correct, although the left doesn’t believe in natural law or nature’s G-d.
5.56mm
"...being necessary to the security of a free State..."
Liberals always focus on the part about "a well regulated Militia," and conservatives focus on the part about "shall not be infringed," but the most important part is line quoted above.
The right that is endowed by our creator is the right to live securely and freely. "The right of the people to keep and bear Arms" is the means to that end. The "militia" is the "state-at-large."
-PJ
Bttt.
5.56mm
When a Liberal opens their mouth about abolishing the Second Amendment they unknowingly justify the reason it exists.
All that you wrote in your post is word gymnastics from activist judges.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and is not only meant to limit government on the national level but also stop Unconstitutional government at the state and local level. Otherwise, states could and would restrict freedom of speech, freedom of religion and all the other freedoms in the Bill of Rights, including the right defined in the 2nd Amendment. That was the entire point of the original Bill of Rights. 5 justices, with the stoke of a pen, can NOT nullify those rights, even though for years they have tried and at times, have temporarily succeeded.
However, when the fight is kept up, as it was in the District of Washington v. Heller case, the individual right to have a gun was once again reinstated, al-be-it by a 5 to 4 vote yet again.
In the end, evil can only triumph if good men choose to do nothing.
JoMa
Matthews:
1) Go to a in a gun-free zone,
2) provide a gun to yourself and the same type of gun to an NRA member,
3) point your gun at the NRA member, and
4) he or she will kindly demonstrate how that right is God-given.
Rights only exist as a treaty of peace between individuals. That’s why you only have those rights you concede that everyone else also has, and do not have rights you deny others. Self-defense denialists obviously don’t understand that, or they’d stop advocating for their own enslavement.
It has nothing to do with hunting or self defense. Those two things are simple by products of the 2A.
I doubt it. If they had, Obama would never have been able to usurp the presidency.
On a practical level, Americana’ general possession of guns preceded the Constitution by a century and a half.
That means it already exists and is absolute and is severely infringed at all levels of government everywhere in the country.
“LIKE”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.