I mentioned that Thomas Sowell had a piece on the McDonald case in my previous post. I was a bit disappointed, mainly because of my great esteem for the man.
He fell into the trap of: “If the end of gun control leads to a bloodbath of runaway shootings, then the Second Amendment can be repealed, just as other constitutional amendments have been repealed. Laws exist for people, not people for laws.”
I don’t think he thinks there will be a bloodbath, but I am troubled he thinks the right is repealable. Sure sure, you can convince a goodly enough proportion of voters to repeal any of the Bill of Rights or Amendments that have to do with rights. We can repeal the 19th Amendment, for instance, and make women stay home on election day. The law will be changed but women's right to vote is still there. That right is just violated by the law at that point. The law will be wrong.
The 2nd Amendment can be repealed, and people can agree that you don’t have a right to defend yourself and prosecute you if you dare to, but… You still have that inalienable right. Like your right to life, liberty, and property. A person has to deprive someone else of their rights, generally, to be deprived of their own inalienable rights. (Well, in an ideal world they do.) Take another man's property and be prepared to be denied your own liberty. Take, or threaten, a life, and your right to life may be forfeit.
It’s hairsplitting and a pub argument, but… It still sticks in my craw.
Hitler or Stalin?
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The Harris side tells us that Trump is a fascist. The Trump side tells us
that Harris is a communist. Hence, this year a case can be made that most
voters ...
4 hours ago
3 comments:
It's a typical response...
100% concur with you, NJT. 1) I have great respect for Professor Sowell but his comment implies that rights exist at the whim of the government, not as an inherent part of your identity as a God-created human being.
The ironic thing is that if the 2nd were actually repealed and confiscation attempts began we might actually see a "bloodbath"
I have no idea where people got the notion that the originally codified BOR were meant to be repealed.
Repealing the 2nd Amendment doesn’t make it go away anymore than repealing the rest of the Bill of Rights would allow the government to kick in my door and rob, beat, imprison and torture me with impunity.
Repeal tehm if you wish, my rights remain my rights.
Government could pass a law saying that all property is now communal, thereby violating all personal property rights. That sure as hell wouldn't mean my right to keep my own property vanished, and I sure a hell would fight to keep that which is rightfully mine and which no man may deprive me of.
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