The right to purchase and possess a gun needs to be balanced against the right to life.
The Declaration of Independence states that we have an “unalienable right to life.” It is our first right.
The Second Amendment states that we the people have a right to keep and bear arms, but only as part of a well-regulated militia and only for the security of a free state. It is not for self-protection, not for hunting, not as a hobby and not as a business. That is not the wording nor the intent of the Second Amendment.
Specifically, the Second Amendment, which is just one sentence long, comprising four sentence fragments, separated by three commas, says: “A 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.” Notice that this is not about an individual right but the people’s right. Notice also that the word gun is not used, nor the word firearms. The word that is used is arms. Arms goes with the word Army.
An army is a well-regulated militia for the security of a free state, whereas an individual with a gun is not. When a well-regulated militia is not bearing arms, those arms can be securely stored in an Armory, where they are safely kept and readily available when the well-regulated militia requires them for the security of a free state.
So where does this perceived gun right come from? Guns are big business. There is money in the manufacture of guns. There is money in the sale of guns. There is money in the manufacture of ammunition, and there is money in the sale of ammunition.
The right to buy and sell guns stands in juxtaposition to the unalienable right to life and the thousands of gun deaths that occur in this country every year from domestic gun violence.
Neither the wording nor the intent of the Second Amendment provides the right for an individual to have a gun. So where does that perceived right come from? Why do we tolerate this assault on our unalienable right to life? Why do we tolerate this deliberate mis-use of our Second Amendment?
John C Kirk Jr.
Santa Barbara
