Posted on 03/16/2012 6:29:39 PM PDT by marktwain
I often describe my political ideology as “fiscally conservative, socially liberal” — a description that’s definitely played-out on a college campus but is nevertheless a pretty accurate characterization for me. While I’m usually firm in my beliefs about social issues, I’ve never felt strongly about gun control. That has recently changed. Last week, a federal judge declared part of this state’s gun law unconstitutional, and a few days later, a student allegedly threatened a shooting rampage on this campus. Combined, the incidents made me wonder whether “gun rights” deserve to be protected or whether they’re an oxymoronic notion that persists despite fundamental flaws.
In last week’s case, the judge determined that people applying for a permit to carry their gun in public no longer must demonstrate a “good and substantial reason” for wanting to do so. The case concerned not the Second Amendment itself, but its scope — which the judge substantially broadened by declaring: “The Court finds that the right to bear arms is not limited to the home.”
If the “good and substantial” clause had been applied to permits for gun ownership in addition to gun transport, it would have been more obviously unconstitutional. After all, the concept of a “right” entails the ability to do something without further questions asked. However, I think it’s more than reasonable to ask such a question about gun transport.
I find it counterintuitive that people shouldn’t need a reason to carry a deadly weapon. It seems problematic for the Constitution to necessitate that if I’m not a criminal, drug addict or psychiatric patient, I can tote around my gun just for shits and giggles.. Eliminating the “good and substantial” clause worries me because it shows our government gives more weight to words scribbled on some parchment more than two centuries ago than to an honest, logical evaluation of current gun policy.
Ignoring the Constitution for a moment, I think most people intuitively believe in a natural right to protect ourselves, but not in a natural right to endanger others. The judge’s interpretation last week, however, essentially gives us both by glossing over the conflict that emerges when they overlap. We must somehow distinguish between ensuring individuals can protect themselves and blindly permitting them to carry a tool used to kill people.
State law still includes other provisions — background checks and the criteria I mentioned above. But is that enough? The student accused of threatening violence would have passed the test. He had no history of violence, yet police couldn’t ignore his threats simply because they were out of character. Similarly, just because an individual has no priors, the state shouldn’t trust that person to have good intentions when carrying their gun outside their home.
Think about driving a car: Individuals must jump through several hoops to obtain both a license and a gun permit. Both provide certain freedoms. Both are lethal to others if abused. Just as Marylanders don’t need to explain why they want to drive before getting a license, one could claim they shouldn’t need to show why they want to bring their gun to the grocery store.
The difference, of course, is that it’s not our “right” to own or drive a car. There are plenty of obstacles — financial constraints, an inability to parallel park — to legally obtaining a vehicle. It can be tougher than purchasing a gun to stash in your bedside table. That seems outrageous to me and it highlights the foolishness of basing modern public safety laws on a document created for a society utterly different from ours today. This is where the gun control debate typically delves into the special circumstances of the 18th century, when the citizenry could become the militia at a minute’s notice — everyone needed a gun.
Here’s a head-scratching little nugget: If we weren’t conditioned to think we’re entitled to own a gun, would people get all up in arms if someone restricted their right to bear them? If the founding fathers had relied not on horseback but on horsepower, or understood the importance of highway systems and emergency exit routes, or lived on opposite coastlines, might they have protected the right to operate an engine, making our automobile industry radically different? And if — bear with me — one of their children had attended class on the day of a school shooting, might they have been a bit less hasty on amendment number two?
Alissa Gulin is a senior journalism major and former opinion editor. She can be reached at gulin@umdbk.com.
I am coming to the conclusion that these things are mutually exclusive.
“Ignoring the Constitution for a moment....”
####
Captain: “All Stop”.
We’re just sick of commies having free run of things. It’s time to shut them all down.
First it’s guns...then it’s knives...then come clubs...then rocks....
I’ve learned not to debate with people 1/3 my age. They are almost always wrong, they just have no understanding of why.
I wonder if the people of Syria, Iran, or Greece, etc. had second amendment rights if they and the governments would be in different positions today. Why should we ship weapons to Syria, they can just exercise their second amendment rights .... oh, wait ... dictatorships restrict gun ownership, don’t they. I wonder what future dictatorship the student is about to support.
Alissa......you poor sweet thing. So young, so foolish.
Second Amendment protections were put in place so that the people could shoot operatives of an oppressive government.....not deer.
Fixed it
I’ve learned not to debate with people 1/3 my IQ. They are almost always wrong, they just have no understanding of why.
Whenever an actual conservative debates a liberal, this is ALWAYS true.
As we saw this week with Limbaugh, these people have no problem denying rights to people they disagree with. Whether it’s the 1st or 2nd amendment or any of the others, our rights will be denied unless we vigorously defend them.
Lock up the mentally insane. If they are not to be held accountable for their actions, then they should not be permitted to roam about unobserved.
There is no such thing as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. Not possible.
Yes, they are mutually exclusive.
I think we need to diagram this sentence for me to completely understand this guy,s meaning. Maybe the answer will disabuse me of my initial reaction, if not, he's an inexperienced idiot.
Those words scribbled on some parchment protects your right to pen drivel such as this.
We must now demonstrate a “good and substantial reason” for wanting to exercise our rights.
Lets apply all gun law logic to say ... abortion.
Or voting.
I know some might read that previous post of mine and think I am slow coming to the game, but I think I have not given enough critical thought to whether one CAN be both of those things at the same time.
I never took the time to examine that basic premise.
I think the basic premise is false. But even more, I don’t believe I have defined those components of the premise.
What is “socially liberal”, and what is “fiscally conservative”?
As in the old saw about defining pornography, on the surface I had not defined them, though I was certain I would know each if I saw them.
And I have found that is true, I can tell it when I see it, though defining those categories is much stickier.
The more I thought about defining those terms, the more variables began to get introduced as I thought them through, until it was a swamp of ideas.
And then it became clear all at once: there was ONE thing that makes “socially liberal” and “fiscally conservative” completely unable to inhabit the same space in a normal person. I think it is a cleavage point. (no, not that kind)
It is Personal Responsibility.
That is the cleavage point that separated the two cleanly. If one phrase defines it, the other is its antithesis.
By its very nature, “socially liberal” demands you must surrender your personal responsibility.
And the obverse is true: “fiscally conservative” demands personal responsibility.
Being fiscally conservative means you aren’t depending on someone else to provide for you...and “socially liberal” encompasses everything else from fiscal to emotional.
Citizens with no criminal record should be able, at will, to carry, concealed or open, any firearm they please, hand gun or long gun, anywhere they please without let or hindrance by government authorities.
I’m with you 100% on this, my FRiend.
Maybe Alissa Gulin ought to have to apply to the government for a license to exercise her freedom of speech.
So that the license can be denied, with no right of appeal.
Because her childish view of the world presents a clear and present threat to my freedoms.
After all, it's just words on an old piece of paper that stand between her and people who would deny her rights, just as it's just words on an old piece of paper standing between "we the people" and dangerous idiots such as Alissa who would so readily take away our rights.
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