Guns versus the Bill of Rights

The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision against the District of Columbia’s prohibition of handguns has once again placed gun ownership front and center in an election year. Both sides of this issue have entrenched themselves in preparation for upcoming judicial battles at the local and state levels. Ironically, many of the organizations against unencumbered gun ownership are the very same groups which vociferously attack the Bush Administration for endangering the public’s civil liberties with the passage and use of the Patriot Act. Why? Are these groups ignorant of the meaning behind the Bill of Rights? Do they not understand the historical significance of the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution? I would like to know why they are adamant in their fight for the protection of free speech and what they see as the Patriot Act’s use of illegal search and seizures but, they have no problem with the federal government outlawing the individual’s right to possess firearms? The answer is quite simple. Mass hysteria surrounding the “supposed” high rate of gun violence feeds their agenda and they know that they can only achieve their ends through the passage of laws because they will never be able to pass a federal amendment banning civil possession of firearms.

Americans get killed every year in a number of different manners. Does this country have a higher gun caused annual fatality rate than most other countries? Yes it does however; their statistics are misleading because they never establish the percentage rate of gun caused fatalities against the total population of the United States. For example, if you go to www.blog.healthtalk.com/zimney/firearm-fatalities-the-awful-toll/ (an anti-gun website), you will discover that in 2004 there were 29,569 total firearm fatalities. Of these, 16,750 were suicides, 11,624 were murders, 649 were accidents, and 235 were from unknown reasons. The most recent US census places our current population at 300 million so, awful as any fatality is, 29,569 gun fatalities are infinitesimal when compared to our total population. On the other hand, motor vehicles cause more fatalities each year than firearms and yet; nobody is calling for strict new laws controlling their use. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (www.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=6195) , there were 43,200 motor vehicle fatalities on our highways in 2005.

The Supreme Court’s decision was based solely on the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. You can read the syllabus for yourself at www.supremcourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf. The dissenting opinion written by Justice Stevens hinged upon the meaning of the word “militia” in the 2nd Amendment. The dissenting opinion misses the point of the Bill of Rights. The first 10 Amendments to our constitution are individual rights, and were established by the founders for the protection of the citizen from the state. Thomas Jefferson was a tireless proponent of individual civil liberties. He knew that the individual needed protection from an encroaching governmental entity and he exchanged numerous letters with James Madison discussing these very issues. In 1787, he wrote the following lines to James Madison (www.etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff0950.htm) : “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular; and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.”

The right to gun ownership is an individual right. Government can control the manner in which guns are sold however; it is nevertheless a natural right to us as Americans. The US Supreme Court got it right in the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ET AL. V. HELLER. Besides, I’ve always wondered why gun violence is highest where gun ownership is most restricted whilst in our more rural regions where guns are more prevalent, gun violence is almost nonexistent. Maybe those organizations spending endless dollars in their attempts to take away my civil liberty should spend some of their money analyzing the dysfunction of urban life in America.

De Oppresso Liber