By Stan McHugh ——Bio and Archives--December 31, 2023
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It is most unfortunate, and very disturbing, that we keep seeing constant attempts by some of our own citizens intending to severely limit, or even remove the right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the American Constitution. In order to better understand how totally wrong these efforts are, it is necessary to first understand the reason that the amendment was written in the first place.
It is also important to see and understand why that amendment is listed second only to the first amendment that protects the rights to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right of citizens to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances. “The right of people to bear arms not to be infringed” was and still is clearly stated and leaves no question as to its intent.
When it was ratified on December 15, 1791 the Second Amendment was added to our Constitution as a freedom not to be infringed upon. Since that time the United States of America has grown to be the largest and richest free society of people in the entire history of the world. Why did those who were drafting our constitution see such an importance in protecting the citizen’s right to bear arms?
In the late eighteenth century, Americans had quite recently fought and won a war against what was at that time, the strongest government in the Western World. After doing so, Americans were no longer under threat from outside forces.
Why, then, did our founders see the protection of the citizen’s right to own the means of force as so very important?
The original and still current purpose for the Second Amendment to the American Constitution was, and still is, to put those in government, our government, on notice that they were never going to be allowed to have a monopoly on the means of force.
It is simply an unfortunate fact that “government” does attract those individuals who hold a personal penchant of wanting to “tell others what to do” and back that up with force. The Second Amendment was created to warn such individuals that their power would always be limited as it would always be countered by a citizenry with the means of doing so, if necessary. It is in our Constitution, not to tell the citizens what they “MAY DO”, it is there to tell those in government what they “MAY NOT DO”!
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