High court strikes down gun ban
from the bang-bang dept.
This
is a great story to wake up to. Too bad it wasn't a unanimous decision. The idea that four judges can be this misinformed about the constitutionality of gun ownership is baffling.
That is not to say only those four judges are misinformed. From the article, '67 percent of Americans polled said they felt the Second Amendment gave individuals the right to own guns.' Except that the US Constitution doesn't give or grant rights to individuals at all. The Bill of Rights is there to remind government what our rights are. The ninth and tenth amendments remind government that the Bill of Rights is not an exhaustive list.
So as usual, Americans (and the news polls) are misinformed about the fundamentals of the US Constitution. God grants rights. The Constitution recognizes them and issues a constraint on government to uphold them.
By the way, I believe the Constitution protects the individual's rights to own guns. If a pollster called me up and asked me if the Constitution grants rights to groups of people or the individual, I'd have a problem answering the poll. I know the point of the poll was to determine the "individual vs. militia" interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. But I'd get hung up on the wrong thing and possibly end up being disqualified from the poll all together (which is probably a good thing).
Posted: Thursday - June 26, 2008 at 08:35 AM |