For those of you who skipped U.S. History class in high school, today – December 15 – is a date that should be just as important on your calendar as July 4.
Today is “Bill of Rights Day,” signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on this date in 1941; just one week after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, plunging this country into war. I wrote about that here, and take this opportunity to remind people that we still have a Bill of Rights because America’s “Greatest Generation” stepped up to the plate and crushed two empires a half of a world apart.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. -- Second Amendment free State
The Bill of Rights is about individuals, not states. It is a legal document, not a “living document” subject to change at the whim of popularity or political correctness. It is about personal freedoms and liberty, not about some collectivist nonsense. My colleague in Knoxville, Liston Matthews, offers his thoughts on this important day here.
Citizens of the United States, as one philosopher once explained, live under the worst form of government…except for all the others. Yes, we have a bonehead for a president. We always have a bonehead for a president (how do we keep electing boneheads?). The difference between us and some other country is that we can say this out loud, in print, on the radio, on television and get away with it.
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.--Fourth Amendment
“George Bush is an idiot!” “Barack Obama is a moron!” “Dick Nixon was a crook!” “Jimmy Carter is a fool!”
That felt good, didn’t it? Try saying that about leaders in some other countries and you better enjoy prison food without windows.
We have a free press that is biased and foolish and politically partisan, but how would we react if we turned on the evening news to see Katie Couric being led away in handcuffs by a goon squad sent by some bureaucrat who didn’t care for her lead story on the rotten economy?
Which brings us around to the Second Amendment, that “great insurance policy” against the rise of a totalitarian regime; only Dennis Henigan with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence – or is that “to prevent Gun Ownership?” – can’t seem to get it right. In this infamous YouTube video below, Henigan just can’t bring himself to admit that the right to keep and bear arms is a right of “the people.” You and me. Our parents. Our children and their children.
The Bill of Rights is all about us as individuals, not about governments, except that it serves – or at least is supposed to serve – as a barrier, a restraint on government.
“Congress shall make no law…”
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…”
You get the picture.
Strangely, or perhaps not so, I have yet to meet the gun rights advocate who does not fully support the entire Bill of Rights. Sadly, I have yet to meet the gun control fanatic who would not muzzle Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association or Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.--Ninth Amendment
A civil right that seems outdated to one person may be of critical and immediate importance to another. Those old, dead white guys who put together the Bill of Rights were, perhaps, the greatest minds of their time, and maybe the greatest minds of all time.
Their legacy is a document that reminds us daily that we have rights, we are endowed with them as human beings, they are not granted to us by a government, and they may not be taken away simply because they are not popular. Now that’s worth celebrating!
More from Gun Rights Examiners
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
And Don’t forget to visit:
For more info: The Bill of Rights.
First Amendment:
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.
Second Amendment:
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.
Third Amendment:
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.
Fourth Amendment:
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.
Fifth Amendment:
No person shall be held to answer for any 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.
Sixth Amendment:
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 where in 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 defense.
Seventh Amendment:
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.
Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Ninth Amendment:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment:
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.
Comments
I think it would be wise for us to remember that the entire Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, recognizes 3 basic entities. The Unitid States (including it's constituent parts) the states (i.e. state government), and the people. In every instance that I'm aware of it recognizes the United States and the states as having POWERS. Only to the people does it recognize RIGHTS. All attempts to apply the second amendment to states ignore this fact.
The Constitution is the law of the land! All ten of the bill of rights apply to the *individual*.
I agree. All the rights apply to the individual. It does also contain constraints on the powers of the U.S. Government. Later applied to the states though that seems to be an ongoing process of recognition.
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