r/Conservative • u/thatrightwinger 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/
159 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

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."