2nd Amendment - Little Noticed Element

[gvf]

Of the many arguments that the 2nd means that there is a right to bear arms by the people, over and above the benefit to a militia is this: the wording prohibits an infringement of an already existing right. It does not create a right, it recognizes a pre-exist one - and prohibits actions against it.

"...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

It would not have been news to anyone in the 1790s they had the right to bear arms.
Contemporaries had recently won the Revolution with weapons of their own. They knew the right existed. That's the presupposition. The reason for the Amendment was to safeguard - not create.

Seems like there is a false premise to many of the arguments against the 2nd.

 

[BillCA]

Some folks call these inalienable rights; unalienable rights; God-given rights or natural rights.

Take your pick. In any case, the BoR describes most rights as pre-existing rights and describes the limitations on the government against changing or removing those rights.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

--Amendment I

 

[44 AMP]

I know it shouldn't be....

But this is news...how?

No matter what you call them, our Founders believed we had certain rights simply because we existed, and no power on earth was sufficient to negate those rights. The entire Bill of Rights is a list of restrictions on government. It does not grant us anything. We have all our rights because we are here.

Even due process of law does not have the authority to remove our rights from us. We may use that term, but we use it incorrectly when we do. You cannot forfit a natural right. What actually happens is your ability to legally exercise that right is denied.

Doesn't everybody already know this? they should. Sadly, so many people's education appears to be lacking in some areas.

 

[SteelCore]

I think of rights in the same way as morality: most people instinctively have a feeling for what their "rights" are, as well as what's "right" and what's "wrong."

Some people might argue that these instincts come from God; others might argue that they're a product of evolution, somehow encoded in our genes. But one thing is for sure: in a practical sense, you only have whatever rights you can back up with force.

Thus, Americans have the right to bear arms if enough of us decide to claim that right for ourselves (regardless of what the Constitution says or doesn't say) and resolve to defend it to our deaths, if necessary. Otherwise, we have no right to bear arms, and therefore we're slaves to those who have given themselves the right to bear arms or do anything they choose, meaning the government.