Tuesday, October 10, 2017

You Can't Repeal the Second Amendment


There will be 14 states that are Constitution Carry alone.  You'd need to get all the other states and two of those to pass an amendment repealing #2.  Tall order.

But so?

You can get all 50 states to vote to pass a repeal, so what?  Can you even vote to give up unalienable rights?  The thing about rights is you can't relinquish them, everyone has them, and they put no obligation on others to do anything besides respect them.  But you always have them. 

Life, liberty, property, pursuit of happiness.

Self defense, preserving my life, liberty, and property. 

People in Australia and Britain have Second Amendment rights.  It's just that their gov't violates, instead of safeguards, those rights.  Wrongly.  Broadly.  Without proper justification. 



There are certain individual times in specific cases where the gov't comes down on you and violates your rights under societies sanction.  You might violate someone's rights by robbing them of their property and then find yourself losing your liberty for a time in prison, put there by the gov't, for example.  But even such a rights violator has rights.  Due process, for one.

It's one thing to repeal an Amendment.  It's quite another thing entirely to try to repeal a Right. 


6 comments:

Comrade Misfit said...

I'm sorry, but saying something is a "right" is circular.

Let's take it out of the topic at hand. I say that owning a hot-pink Wossname is an inalienable right. You say it's not. My saying that "it's a right for me to own a hot-pink Wossname" doesn't make it so. Your saying it's not a right doesn't make it not so.

What is a "right" is determined by the laws of the land. Nothing more, nothing less.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

A right goes beyond mere laws. I have a right to exist, will you concede that? A cold hard universe brought me into existence and eventually that cold hard universe will tak me back. In the interim, I try to stretch out that existence.

Comrade Misfit said...

But still, it's a matter of opinion as to what is a right. My assertion of a right to own the hot-pink Wossname means nothing.

Do you truly have a right to exist? We'll all little more than biological accidents... what gives you the right to exist over another life form? Science fiction is interspersed with what happens when we encounter a species that is so far advanced that they regard us as semi-annoying animals.

Borepatch said...

As soon as you stray far from "... deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" you get into sadly well known territory. If you think that Jefferson's words are racist/white privilege then the chinese Mandate Of Heaven says the same thing.

So yeah, the laws of the land determine rights, right up until they don't.

Will said...

The fun thing about repealing any of the original Amendments? Automatically breaks up the US, at least as far as the original signing states are concerned. They wouldn't sign up until those were added to the Constitution. Some of the later states may also have poison pill documents of a similar nature.

Bear in mind that Comrade Misfit is a socialist lawyer. When she talks like that, it reminds me of Clinton's "what the meaning of is, is". Also reminds me of my Boomer sisters. Good people, until they talk about politics, then the emotions overrule any facts, or reality in general. Not sure why, but the younger sisters didn't end up with that left-wing belief system.

I'm hesitant to ascribe it to their own belief system, Christianity, which the older ones have walked away from completely. Too limited a data field for conclusions, but it is suggestive. The problem I have is that I'm fairly sure we are able to hold multiple belief systems. Can they have equal weighting, or is there a hierarchy?

I used to read Comrade's blog, but the election did bad things to it. It's depressing when a blogger ends a blog I read. It's equally depressing when I pull the plug on them. Bummer.

bart simpsonson said...

Indeed you CAN relinquish your rights. By getting on a plane, or a ship, or in your car, and leaving America. And don't come back......