Citizens of America have Second Amendment rights because they live and breathe — not because government officials have chosen to bestow them with such, as some sort of privilege.
We know this because our country was founded on the principle that our rights come from God, and that our government is only instituted among the people to secure those rights and protect them from infringement. Moreover, when our government begins to overstep its rightful bounds, and when the public servants who are hired by way of vote begin to trample those God-given rights and usher in an form of governance that is destructive of that idea, then it is the right of the people to alter or abolish that governing system and institute a new one.
That’s in our DNA; that’s our country’s guiding principle.
Cheryl K. Chumley
May 29, 2018
God-given, not government granted, guides 2nd Amendment
[It would appear we are constantly getting closer to the day when abolishing the existing governing system is a necessity. The proper way to do that would be through the state governments but it doesn’t seem the states are all that interested.—Joe]
Oh, the state’s are interested all right. They perceive the Fed system as a giant teat to suck on, but other than thatt our states and localities want to control every aspect of our lives. They’re worse than the Feds, really – just don’t have full access to the funding that would insinuate them into our lives to the extent that they want.
And one problem with the states is that they aren’t (even if only in theory) a government of enumerated powers. That’s why the 14th Amendment is so important, to enforce at least a tiny measure of respect for civil rights onto the states.
Interestingly enough, only a few of the Bill of Rights amendments are actually worded as federal-only, even though judges have mostly limited them to the federal government in defiance of the words. For example, the 2nd Amendment as worded clearly restricts all governments. On a few occasions, state courts have recognized that — Halbrook cites a Texas case from around 1830 that did so.
It depends upon the state. Alaska versus California for example.
And numerous states have passed a Firearms Freedom Act which challenges the overreach of the Federal government in regards to firearm regulation.
Don’t expect relief from the states. State governments are the petri dish in which the various federal political diseases are continually incubated. You generally don’t get to be a federal pol without first doing your time at the state level.
I suppose that someone could go to court and argue that since all the rights in the BOR are God-given, and since there is no generally accepted scientific proof of the actual existence of God, then all those rights don’t actually exist.
I probably shouldn’t be giving them ideas.
Many States, mine included, get more Imperial Federal dollars than her citizens contribute. I hate it, but it is what it is. State, county, and local governments love Federal dollars. They can spend what they don’t have. Or deserve. And they like it. And it is not by accident. Every rational adult knows that you control those you support financially. You pull the strings. You make their choices.