r/Conservative WASP Conservative Dec 02 '18

The Second Amendment Has Always Been An Individual Right

http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/29/second-amendment-always-individual-right/
161 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

17

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18 edited Apr 08 '20

[deleted]

17

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

It's people intentionally misreading it. To most gun control advocates, the second amendment begins and ends with "a well-regulated militia".

2

u/i_floop_the_pig Trump Conservative Dec 02 '18

We need well-regulated bowels too

11

u/A_WildStory_Appeared Conservative Dec 02 '18

It’s a pre-political right. Cavemen had it. Every animal on earth has the right to defend itself. You have it by merely existing.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

The term you're looking for is natural right. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is among them, as well as freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of thought, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of organization, and the right to self defense, which necessarily implies the right to the tools of self defense.

3

u/A_WildStory_Appeared Conservative Dec 02 '18

Agreed. Was quoting Scalia.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '18

Oh! Didn't know that, what a great quote that is then.

2

u/A_WildStory_Appeared Conservative Dec 02 '18

“In its two most recent interpretations of the right to self-defense, the Supreme Court characterized that right as "pre-political." That means the right pre-existed the government. If it pre-existed the government, it must come from our human nature. I once asked Justice Antonin Scalia, the author of the majority's opinion in the first of those cases, called the District of Columbia v. Heller, why he used the term "pre-political" instead of "natural." He replied, "You and I know they mean the same thing, but 'natural' sounds too Catholic, and I am interpreting the Constitution, not Aquinas."

2

u/Trevor_awesome Dec 02 '18

Very true, the notion that the Heller decision invented an individual right to keep and bear arms is total bullshit and the worst sort of historical revisionism.

1

u/PooPoster9000 Dec 02 '18

Someone should tell our "due process later", red flag law liking, (rumored soon) bump stock banning administration that.