Two Mistakes People Make re the 2nd Amendment
Jul 17th, 2008 by Micah Tillman | 3 Comments |
People who use the 2nd Amendment to to argue for gun restrictions usually/always make the following two mistakes:
- They confuse:
- reasons for the government’s not “infringing” a right with
- reasons the right is a right in the first place.
- They confuse:
- reasons for the government’s not “infringing” a right with
- the negative conditions for the government’s “infringing” a right
The right in question is that “of the people to keep and bear arms.”
Re: 1.1
A reason given for the government’s not infringing the right is that “[a] well regulated Militia . . . [is] necessary to the security of a free State.”
Re: 1.2
The 2nd Amendment doesn’t say why “keep[ing] and bear[ing] arms” is a right. It just assumes it is.
Re: 2.2
No reason for (or situation in) which the government’s infringing of the right becomes okay is ever given.
Contrast this with the 4th’s “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
There the situation in which the right’s “violat[ion]” by government is acceptable is explicitly spelled out.
I’m not sure I’m keeping up with your reasoning. From where I sit, it seems to me the phrase about the “well armed militia” explains exactly why it is a right. I guess I’m curious what this phrase is doing if it’s not justifying the reason for this right.
I suppose it puts the right to bear arms in a somewhat unique category. Most of the other rights listed in the bill of rights don’t get much in the way of explanation for why they are rights. And giving a reason for why it is a right seems to create some tension with the idea that rights are inalieble. (Wow, did I murder the spelling on that word or what?) But if I said
“Vitamin C, being necessary to a healthy immune system, should be consumed every day” We would reasonably infer that the reason we should consume Vitamin C is because it is necessary to the immune system.
“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.”
“Vitamin C, being necessary to a healthy immune system, should be consumed every day.”
The two are far from parallel. Here would be a better example:
“Vitamin C, being necessary to a healthy immune system, the right of the people to eat food should not be infringed.”
What I think you think the 2nd Amendments says is this:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, keeping and bearing Arms should be considered a right, and therefore shall not be infringed.”