What do I really believe?

What do I really believe?

During the online debate and discussion about the recent horrific mass murder at an elementary school I have been asked if I defended the right of people to own personal assault weapons. I initially answered “no” — then I realized that my answer was only an emotional response made without any thought of underlying principle.

I had to go back and re-read the Bill of Rights — the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution and consider what I hold dear. Take a minute with me to review them:

Amendment I (Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II (Freedom to keep and bear arms)
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.

Amendment III (Freedom from government quartering of soldiers)
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV (Freedom from unreasonable Search & Seizure)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V (Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy)
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI (Rights of accused persons to a speedy and public trial)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII (Right to a trial by jury in civil cases)
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII (Freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX (Freedom from government encroachment upon personal right)
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X (Freedom from Federal Government encroaching upon states rights)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

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The common element in all ten? They were very intentionally written to protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT. Thomas Jefferson said, “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth.” James Madison viewed the Bill of Rights as a vehicle that might be used to rally people against a future oppressive government.

So, here’s my dilemma: do I really believe in the principles underlying these amendments, or do I want to selectively pick and choose depending upon the changing winds of popular opinion or — even worse — upon which ones align with my personal preferences?

Do I believe in free speech? Well that gets complicated, doesn’t it? I certainly want my freedom to speak, to preach and teach, but I wish a lot of other people would shut up, frankly. Does that make me a hypocrite? If so, I am in good company. Some of my liberal friends wish Rush Limbaugh would shut up. Some of my conservative friends wish Rachel Maddow would shut up. All of us wish those crazies from the Westboro Baptist Church would shut up, but the reality is that if we want freedom from government intervention in our speech, we have to accept that the government must treat speech we despise with an equally hands-off approach. So I get to preach Christ, the Westboro people get to misrepresent Christ, and a million websites get to pollute the minds of the nation with the most vile kinds of porn you probably can’t even imagine. Free speech.

Of course, when the framers of the Constitution wrote those protections they were writing with quills and printing was done one sheet at a time on a platen press. The mechanisms of free speech have radically changed and exponentially broadened, but the broadly written protection has flexed and stretched to accommodate those mechanisms.

That brings me to the 2^nd Amendment, so important it was listed right behind the freedom to speak without fear, a protection against the government’s propensity to shut down dissenting and unpopular views. 

The 2^nd Amendment acknowledges that private citizens have the Constitutional right to own weapons… not only to own them, but to bear them. Not only the right to own a gun locked away in a gun safe, but the right to bear, to carry, a personal firearm. Some would attempt to argue that the opening phrase of the 2^nd Amendment — “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” — limits possession of firearms to law enforcement officers and military personnel, but that argument contradicts the purpose of the right: to protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT. Officials of the government keeping and bearing arms can’t possibly protect the CITIZENS from the GOVERNMENT. 

So here I am, a non-gun owner, non-violent man outraged by the death of innocents at the hands of drive-by gunmen, home-invasion thieves and crazy young men who kill people in malls and schoolrooms, defending the rights of private citizens to keep and bear arms, as the Constitution says. Just as in the case of the 1^st Amendment, the framers didn’t foresee the development of semi- and fully-automatic weapons, Uzis and armor piercing ammunition any more than they could have anticipated the internet and pay-per-view cable porn, but the freedom transcends the mechanism. Possession of personal firearms is sometimes abused, and badly, but the abuses, tragic and horrible as they are, are the tiny exception and not the rule, and the need to preserve the ability of the populace to rally against a future oppressive government demands that the public remain adequately armed.

I can’t pick and choose — YOU can’t pick and choose — to allow a freedom that supports your views and restrict a freedom that makes you angry.