Category: Second Amendment rights

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Second Amendment rights

Guns in Their Holsters

Out in the countryside, seeing men carry around rifles and knives and such excites the nerves of no one except (maybe) some ungulates. In urban and suburban areas, though, most five-toe-per-foot folk have become used to not seeing people dressed to kill, so to speak.

That’s one reason for conceal carry laws, allowing people to carry guns legally, but concealed. Very civilized, and it makes criminals think twice.

But here’s a wrinkle: Openly carrying weapons is perfectly legal in all sorts of places. Wisconsin’s Attorney General wrote a memorandum, not long ago, saying that residents may indeed openly carry guns on Wisconsin streets.

Oddly, the state prohibits concealed carry by citizens.

Worse yet, some local police have no intention of abiding by the law. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Harris made the news, saying, “My message to my troops is if you see anybody carrying a gun on the streets of Milwaukee, we’ll put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide whether [they] have a right to carry it.”

Harris is worried about his city’s murder rate. So, he’s willing to commit crimes to prevent murder.

We all know where he’s coming from. But, I wonder. Has Harris thought this through? I bet that most murders in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were committed by people illegally carrying guns, concealed, not by those openly carrying them.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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First Amendment rights general freedom Second Amendment rights

Show-Me Madness

What if you were profiled by the police as a terrorist simply because of your political beliefs?

A new report entitled “The Modern Militia Movement,” prepared for law enforcement agencies by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, threatens just that.

The report doesn’t detail any current criminal activity in Missouri. It does suggest to police, however, that anyone opposing government bailouts, abortion, or the Federal Reserve is a potential militia member, possibly a terrorist, or both.

The report tells police how to recognize militia members. Look for literature that is “derogatory” toward the IRS, ATF, the CIA, and the like. And look also for people who support minor party presidential candidates, or one sitting Republican congressman.

Tim Neal told the Associated Press that he has become nervous about his Ron Paul bumpersticker. Hearing a litany of the tell-tale signs that a person is in a militia, he said he “was going down the list and thinking, ‘Check, that’s me.'”

Remember, it’s perfectly legal — and peaceful — to wear fatigues.

It is also legal to train, military-style, on private property. So is paintball. And both probably qualify as good preparation for all sorts of emergencies.

Governments focusing investigations and gathering “intelligence” on citizens on the basis of peaceful, perfectly legal political viewpoints is far more dangerous. And that’s happening right now in the Show-Me state.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Second Amendment rights

Campers Packing, Legally

The Department of Interior has decided to abide by the Second Amendment.

Why? Maybe the recent Supreme Court ruling that the Constitution does indeed protect an individual’s right to bear arms has something to do with it. Or maybe DOI folk just heard about bad people with guns going after innocent people without guns.

Whatever the reasons, the department deserves a cheer or three, for revising its regulations in the direction of common sense. The department now allows visitors to national parks to carry concealed firearms not only for hunting but also for self-defense, so long as doing so is allowed under state law.

Interior’s official Q&A about the new policy is fairly straightforward. Won’t the new rules endanger wildlife and other visitors? Why, no. There is “no reason to believe that law-abiding citizens who carry concealed firearms will . . . use their firearms for illegal purposes.”

Aren’t the national parks safe places? So, why would any visitors even need to carry arms? The department replies that criminal activity does sometimes occur on federal lands, but that in any case, “we do not believe it is appropriate to refuse to recognize state laws simply because a person enters the boundaries of a national park or wildlife refuge.”

How long will the reasonable new rule last? That depends in part on the vagaries of politics and political appointments. But it’s constitutional, it makes sense . . . could that give it some staying power?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Second Amendment rights too much government

Second Amendment Foundation Hits Target

Better late than never.

It was one of the most laborious and disgusting clean-up jobs that had to be done after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Finally the Second Amendment Foundation has achieved satisfaction in its “clean-up” lawsuit against the city of New Orleans for using the hurricane as an excuse to grab guns from law-abiding citizens.

In September of 2005, the Foundation teamed up with the National Rifle Association to sue the New Orleans government for violating the right of innocent residents to bear arms. In the wake of Katrina, guns were grabbed without warrants, without even any probable cause or reasonable suspicion of crimes.

Just when people and their homes were at their most vulnerable, the forces of alleged law enforcement made it even harder for them to protect themselves against looters and other criminals.

It has taken three long years for New Orleans to agree to return the stolen weapons to their rightful owners. Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, says he is glad the suit is finally settled. But he adds that it should never have been necessary.

Gottlieb hopes the permanent injunction will “[send] a signal to mayors and police chiefs everywhere that we live in a nation of laws, and those laws are not subject to their whims.”

Natural disasters are no excuse to crumple the Constitution.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense Second Amendment rights too much government

I Second that Amendment

The First Amendment recognizes some very basic rights:

  • to speak truth to power, personally and through the press;
  • to practice our religion – or not – as we choose;
  • to associate with others and peaceably assemble together;
  • to petition our government for a redress of grievances.

The Second Amendment, which recognizes our right to arm ourselves, means we – as individuals – may legally and practically secure the rights of the First.

Or does it?

The Amendment reads: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

A debate has raged over what these words actually mean. Does the Amendment support an individual right to be armed . . . or only when enlisted in a state militia? This makes a big difference for gun regulation and prohibition.

Now, in the case D.C. v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court has settled the issue. Voting 5-4, the court says Yes, the Second Amendment does enshrine an individual right to bear arms.

This makes perfect sense to me. That’s why the framers wrote “right of the people.”

Indeed, this is a wonderful victory for freedom.

It is also welcome news for Washington, D.C., residents who now, whether driving a cab or sitting at home alone, will be able to protect themselves. Which means, in the end, less crime and violence.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.