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Op-Ed: The Supreme Court says good guys with guns save lives
The Center Square ^ | March 27, 2023 | William Haupt III

Posted on 04/02/2023 3:53:17 PM PDT by Twotone

"Every Communist knows the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” – Mao Tse-tung

Many believe the American Revolution resulted from taxation without representation in parliament. While there is credence in that theory, that did not light the fuse of the first cannon shot in Concord.

The American Revolution was the fatal blow of an attempt to control gun ownership in Boston.

When Gov Thomas Gage of Massachusetts outlawed guns in Boston, he dispatched the Redcoats to break up a town meeting. They were confronted by 3,000 armed Bostonians. Gage was soon to discover that every patriot in Boston 16 years or older owned a gun and an arsenal of gunpowder.

The colonies warned the British they would treat any attempt to seize arms or powder as an act of war. After another attempt to disarm militias, this ignited the fire of discontent for the British into the fires of war. A few months later, the "shot heard round the world" rocked Concord on April 19, 1775.

"The best we can hope for the people at large is that they be properly armed." – Alexander Hamilton

Although the Second Amendment guarantees "the right of the people to keep and bear arms," it is one of our most abridged Constitutional rights. After years of British tyranny, the colonies feared a central government could violate their newly gained freedom and liberty. They demanded the right to bare arms to use against anyone who threatened free speech and tried to abridge their liberties.

In 1822, the right to bare arms was first reaffirmed in Commonwealth v. Bliss when Kentucky tried to restrict carrying a concealed weapon. The court ruled the right to bear arms to defend oneself was a federal right.

(Excerpt) Read more at thecentersquare.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2a; banglist; defense; scotus; supremecourt
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1 posted on 04/02/2023 3:53:17 PM PDT by Twotone
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To: Twotone

Let’s make a deal. Everybody who wants Americans disarmed by the government get the hell out of the country. We promise we’ll stay here with our guns and hold down the fort by keeping liberty and freedom alive.


2 posted on 04/02/2023 3:55:56 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (It's time to indict the Dung Beetle Party's token affirmative action chubby cheeked shyster lawyer.)
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To: Twotone
Lexington and Concord resulted from an attempt by Lt. Col Smith (under secret orders from the governor) to seize the militia's gunpowder and military stores.

It didn't work . . .

3 posted on 04/02/2023 3:59:19 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: Twotone

The gov’t uses intimidation and threats. Just LIKE having a gun used against the citizens. Can you imagine how much WORSE it will be if we forfeit our last line of protection.


4 posted on 04/02/2023 4:11:36 PM PDT by Singermom
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To: Twotone

I only bare my arms in the summer; it’s too cold, otherwise. ;)


5 posted on 04/02/2023 4:12:47 PM PDT by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing)Xvg)
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To: Twotone
So important, it bears repeating, shamelessly...

The American Revolution was the fatal blow of an attempt to control gun ownership in Boston.

When Gov Thomas Gage of Massachusetts outlawed guns in Boston, he dispatched the Redcoats to break up a town meeting. They were confronted by 3,000 armed Bostonians. Gage was soon to discover that every patriot in Boston 16 years or older owned a gun and an arsenal of gunpowder.

The colonies warned the British they would treat any attempt to seize arms or powder as an act of war. After another attempt to disarm militias, this ignited the fire of discontent for the British into the fires of war. A few months later, the "shot heard round the world" rocked Concord on April 19, 1775.

"The best we can hope for the people at large is that they be properly armed." – Alexander Hamilton

Although the Second Amendment guarantees "the right of the people to keep and bear arms," it is one of our most abridged Constitutional rights. After years of British tyranny, the colonies feared a central government could violate their newly gained freedom and liberty. They demanded the right to bare arms to use against anyone who threatened free speech and tried to abridge their liberties.

In 1822, the right to bear arms was first reaffirmed in Commonwealth v. Bliss when Kentucky tried to restrict carrying a concealed weapon. The court ruled the right to bear arms to defend oneself was a federal right.

6 posted on 04/02/2023 4:13:41 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is the next Sam Adams when we so desperately need him)
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To: Twotone

You really need to read the 1982 Senate report on the RKBA. I have a paper copy.

https://guncite.com/journals/senrpt/senrpt.html

“The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner.”

19th century cases
16. * Wilson v. State, 33 Ark. 557, at 560, 34 Am. Rep. 52, at 54 (1878).

“If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the (p.17)penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of constitutional privilege.”

17. * Jennings v. State, 5 Tex. Crim. App. 298, at 300-01 (1878).

“We believe that portion of the act which provides that, in case of conviction, the defendant shall forfeit to the county the weapon or weapons so found on or about his person is not within the scope of legislative authority. * * * One of his most sacred rights is that of having arms for his own defence and that of the State. This right is one of the surest safeguards of liberty and self-preservation.”

18. * Andrews v. State, 50 Tenn. 165, 8 Am. Rep. 8, at 17 (1871).

“The passage from Story (Joseph Story: Comments on the Constitution) shows clearly that this right was intended, as we have maintained in this opinion, and was guaranteed to and to be exercised and enjoyed by the citizen as such, and not by him as a soldier, or in defense solely of his political rights.”

19. * Nunn v. State, 1 Ga. (1 Kel.) 243, at 251 (1846).

“’The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed.’ 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 such merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree; and all this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State.”

And the SCOTUS case that led to the Civil War..

Are Negros citizens...Dred Scott
“It would give to persons of the negro race, who are recognized as citizens in any one state of the Union, the right to enter every other state, whenever they pleased.... and it would give them full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might meet; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to KEEP AND CARRY ARMS wherever they went.”


7 posted on 04/02/2023 4:17:36 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”)
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To: Twotone

Its a lot different now, no leadership, massive government intelligence network,(thx to Patriot Act) fake news, weaponization of judicial system, etc.


8 posted on 04/02/2023 4:18:42 PM PDT by kenmcg (ti hi o)
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To: Twotone

I am amazed this article was published on the Center Square!


9 posted on 04/02/2023 4:21:55 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: Twotone

There were cannon in Concord; that’s what the redcoats were after. But they were not fired. Small arms only. As the word spread, farmers RAN as much as ten miles to get in on it as the British retreated to Boston.


10 posted on 04/02/2023 4:34:01 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
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To: Twotone

Back in 1968 LBJ signed the 1968 gun control act into law. It was supposed to prevent all of this.

“Today we begin to disarm the criminal and the careless and the insane. All of our people who are deeply concerned in this country about law and order should hail this day.”-— Lyndon Johnson signing the 1968 gun control act into law.

And Thomas J. Dodd, who wrote the 1968 gun control act using the 1938 Nazi weapons law as a pattern...

“No one can predict how many lives will be spared because of this bill, but, if the bloody record of our yesterdays is any measure, millions of future Americans will live to enjoy the promise of many peaceful tomorrows.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to play a part in this great moment in our time.”— Thomas J. Dodd on passage of the 1968 Gun control act.

NOW PAY ATTENTION!
***Today we begin to disarm the criminal and the careless and the insane.***

In the world since 1968 criminals have had felonies reduced to misdemeanors, and the mentally insane are declared “normal” so they can still legally buy firearms.

Then the libs blame those who defend themselves against the crazies, and they blame firearms, and not the criminals and mentally ill who use them.


11 posted on 04/02/2023 4:34:42 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”)
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To: marktwain
I am amazed this article was published on the Center Square!

Somebody at Center Square probably edited the 'bare' into it rather than the proper term 'bear' to make him look like a moron who doesn't know proper grammar.

12 posted on 04/02/2023 4:46:47 PM PDT by Wizdum (Tyranny always ends badly for the tyrannical. Ask Ceaușescu, Gaddafi or Saddam.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
Allow me to augment a tad there Flingster. You wrote:

"Let’s make a deal"

My rendition would go as such:

"No Compromise"

(my tagline if you haven't noticed), instead of Let’s make a deal. Anybody who wants Americans disarmed by the government get the hell out of the country.

We promise

WILL

stay here with our guns and hold down the fort by maintaining liberty and freedom.
13 posted on 04/02/2023 4:58:40 PM PDT by progunner (no compromise)
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To: Twotone

This is a great article that helps dispel the gunslinger myth of the Old West. Yes there were instances but it was the exception and not the rule. Women were proficient with guns back in the day.


14 posted on 04/02/2023 5:04:22 PM PDT by Mean Daddy (Every time Hillary lies, a demon gets its wings. - Windflier)
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To: Mean Daddy

People still know about the gunfight at the OK Corral,150 years afterward. Three men died. Few will note this weekend’s deaths in Chicago, and they’ll be forgotten next weekend.


15 posted on 04/02/2023 5:25:43 PM PDT by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: Twotone

This and the Battle of Athens (Tennessee) is just an example of two of many instances where the people said “no more!”.

https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/battle-of-athens/


16 posted on 04/02/2023 5:33:52 PM PDT by CFW (old and retired)
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To: Mean Daddy

“This is a great article that helps dispel the gunslinger myth of the Old West. Yes there were instances but it was the exception and not the rule. Women were proficient with guns back in the day.”

____

They knew if they weren’t then the chances of they and their children being killed while the husband was out hunting food, managing the fences and crops or finding supplies, whether such be by a wild animal or a ravaging “ne’r’do’well” was great indeed. Both my mother and grandmother knew how to load and use a gun and although neither one were the type to carry one with them, they had one in their bedroom in case it was needed.


17 posted on 04/02/2023 5:42:03 PM PDT by CFW (old and retired)
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To: Flaming Conservative

I only bare my arms in the summer; it’s too cold, otherwise. ;)
################
I only arm bears in the summer; they hibernate in the winter.


18 posted on 04/02/2023 5:56:07 PM PDT by IAGeezer912 (One out of every 20 people on the face of the earth are Americans. We have won life's lottery.)
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To: Twotone

19 posted on 04/02/2023 6:01:36 PM PDT by caww (O death, when you seized my Lord, you lost your grip on me......)
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To: CFW

I’m 60 now but back in the 80’s, I hunted with a guy in his 80’s and he said when he 12 years old, he’d be sent out with a gun and one shell to get a rabbit or whatever. If he came back with a spent shell and no meat, his mother went out and she rarely came home without some meat. He said it made him a better hunter. I know when we hunted pheasants and quail, not many got by him.


20 posted on 04/02/2023 6:46:50 PM PDT by Mean Daddy (Every time Hillary lies, a demon gets its wings. - Windflier)
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