The Constitution of the United States
— The Bill of Rights
—
Article II:
"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."
Gun-control zealots conveniently confuse and intentionally confound the meaning of
this simple declaration; some of their extremists even deny its existence.
The Bill of Rights only
further protects unalienable rights we naturally
possess upon birth and which we never, ever agreed to grant government under any
interpretation. It demands that especially these specific and enumerated rights
remain untouched.
The gun-control zealots miss the point
— and sometimes so do we.
More than a decade before the Bill of Rights was ratified (1791), seven years
before even the U.S. Constitution itself was drafted (1787), the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts adopted its own state constitution (1780).
The Preamble of our state Constitution states the intent of the document,
underscoring the individual's "natural rights" and the limited power
granted by "social compact" to the government.
Following those three paragraphs, in
Part the First, Article
One of our Declaration of Rights, the very first sentence of the
very
first paragraph states:
"All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and
unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and
defending
their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and
protecting
property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and
happiness."
The
very first sentence of the
very first paragraph
of Article One of Part the First of A Declaration of
Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Lest there be any doubt concerning the meaning of the founders' words written two
centuries ago, this article was later amended only 23 years ago in 1976, as the
"Equal Rights Amendment," but those founding words were retained
exactly as
they were originally written.
Let there be no question about why they were so prominently positioned in 1780.
The then-very recent American Revolution was not launched just over taxation
without representation. The spark that ignited it was the King's minions coming to
take away colonists' guns.
On April 18, 1775, General Thomas Gage
ordered Lt. Colonel Francis Smith and his 10th
Regiment Foot to march to Lexington and Concord with the following
command:
"Having received Intelligence, that a Quantity of Ammunition, Provisions,
Artillery, Tents and small Arms, have been collected at Concord, for the Avowed Purpose of
raising and supporting a Rebellion against His Majesty, you will March with the Corps of
Grenadiers and Light Infantry, put under your Command, with the utmost expedition and
Secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy all Artillery, Ammunition,
Provisions, Tents, Small Arms, and all Military Stores whatever. ..."
They were met and routed at the Concord bridge by armed citizens.
"The
Shot Heard 'Round the World" was in fact the first salvo in the battle against gun
control.
Suppose the Second Amendment instead read: "A well
educated electorate,
being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and
read
books shall not be infringed."
Do you suppose there would now be any debate over what the framers meant?
"All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential and
unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and
defending
their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting
property..."
Defending your life, liberty or property without the sometimes necessary tools is
like alleging a right to free speech or a free press while being forbidden by
government to speak out or to publish without its permission.
In this ongoing battle against gun-control it is important to remember the words
of 19th Century Massachusetts Congressman Daniel Webster:
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It
is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the
dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well,
but
they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters,
but they mean to be
masters."
Beware good intentions.
Reject this assumption of authority.
Restore our unalienable rights.
All of them.
