Friday, July 20, 2012

Constitutional Rights

I am not trying to make light of a serious situation.
What happened in Colorado is horrible.
It might have been preventable, or even only alleviated.
But not by gun control.

Let's be clear however.

You have a right to free speech.
You do not have the right to yell fire in a crowded movie theater.
They do not however forbid you to have a tongue, lest you might.

You have a right to bear arms.

You do not have the right to fire in a crowded movie theater.
They may not however forbid you to have a gun, lest you might.

7 comments:

  1. I am a firm believer in gun rights, but it has always been hard for me to understand why we need to have semi-automatic weapons available outside of law enforcement or military. When Indy had a crazed gunman shoot five of our policy officers and killing my (ex) son-in-law's best friend. Some of the cops didn't have time to get their automatic weapons from the trunks of their cars. The story was horrific and finally ended when a wounded police officer was able to make his way toward the madman. When the guy's automatic weapon was out of ammo, the guy went for his other weapons and the cop butted him in the head with his before pumping five bullets in the guy.

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  2. Rita, Our founders felt that citizens had a right to the latest military arms of the time, rifles and muskets.
    Later it was legal for all Americans to own cannons and even machine guns without special license.
    The Roaring Twenties put an end to that.
    I just came to the conclusion that armor piercing "cop-killer" (misnomer) bullets should be available if mass murderers are going to start wearing vests like at Aurora.
    And criminal don't seem to be bothered with restrictions on fully auto weapons.
    I personally cannot afford the ammunition to feed a fully auto weapon, but semi-auto (back to your point) is necessary for self-defense, and self-defense is the justification, as the British felt as far back as the 1600's.

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  3. This happened just before the UN Gun Treaty vote...:-(
    There's a nutty conspiracy theory email my cousin sent me I'm not even responding to...he thinks this was planned by our gov't because of that treat signing!

    Well...my European husband was totally for gun control but realized that, in America, we can't do that because the bad guys DO have them.

    We can't grow good people anymore, and bad people will get guns and kill our loved ones with them. Leftwingers think life must be perfection so they think guns need to go. Until their sister's killed.

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  4. Exactly right Ed.

    Gun control zealots should ask themselves a few questiosn. How far away is the nearest police station? How many cops patrol their city or town or county? What are the odds a police officer is closer that 15 minutes away? How much damage to you or your property can an evil person do in 15 minutes?

    Police do not prevent crime. They catch the bad guys who did the crime.

    Self protection is the foundation of your God-given freedoms. If you cannot protect yourself, freedom of speech is moot.

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  5. Thanks, Z and Joe for your comments, also.
    I referred to a book "Will the Real America Please Stand Up" in my previous post.
    Just finished the chapter on the Second Amendment.
    I cannot overstate what a good book this is to read.
    I learned so much stuff I hadn't read elsewhere.

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  6. Interestingly, AMC theaters is a 'gun free zone'... Yet again it provided a free fire zone for a bad guy. And I agree with your response to Rita. The bad guys WILL get/steal/buy semi and full auto pistols and rifles because THEY don't obey any laws. To restrict our ability to have a fighting chance is NOT following the precepts of the Constitutions.

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  7. Very well put. Brevity is the soul of wit, saith the bard.

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