Individual Gun Rights are NOT and SHOULD NOT be Constitutional
This video gives a clearer perspective on the real purpose for which the Second Amendment was added to the original U.S. Constitution.
Gun supporters claim that they have the right to own a gun to protect their individual rights. (Owing a gun to fight off the U.S. military, if the U.S. government ever became tyrannical, is not a rational argument. The U.S. Air Force would be impervious to the bullets of 300 million people shooting from the ground outside their homes at its bomb-dropping aircraft.)
Those who advocate and support the right of all citizens to own a gun (bear arms) for protection assume that it is their right to own a gun for protection of their rights. And whereas each person sees their individual rights differently, the right to use guns is perceived differently. Criminals do not think that they are criminals when they act according to their free will.
If a child is picked on (bullied) at school, does that child have a right to defend him or herself? Many gun advocates teach their children to defend themselves and stand up to bullies, even if a physical fight results. Children are often taught self-defense measures to protect their right not to be bullied. With this perception, and in defense of their rights, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had every constitutional right to defend themselves against the kids at school who were bullying them when Harris and Klebold made a stand and killed other students and teachers during the April 1999, Columbine High School shootings.
Wouldn’t it be more conducive to peace and consistent with humane actions if the children were taught NEVER to fight back (”turn the other cheek”), and to find a teacher and report the bullying so that the situation can be handled without physical harm and continued abuse? Most bullies are much stronger than those whom they abuse.
If, for example, a person is racked with emotional abuse, for whatever reason, then that person feels that he or she has a right to protect him or herself from the perceived abuse. Today, many darker-skinned people believe that they are being abused by lighter-skinned people, especially from law enforcement. Do they not have the right to stand up and protect themselves? Do they have the right to make a statement by killing innocent police officers and possibly get people thinking about the issue and doing something about it?
If our children are taught to fight back, then we take the chance that the bully, being much stronger than the child, will continue the bullying and probably end up hurting our child in the attempt (by the child) to fight the bully. This is the predominant result of people owning guns and trying to protect themselves from others who have acted, first, against them. The media does not report the presence of guns in the homes of the thousands of murdered victims who are killed believing that owning guns should have protected them. Once a person exercises the right to use a gun to defend that person’s right to not be abused, the person who brandishes the weapon first, is usually the person who survives.
Likewise, when a person uses a gun to exercise their right to secure money to buy drugs that are meant to assuage the feeling of desperation that many feel because society is abusing them, do they not have the right to defend themselves from the perceived abuse?
A humane society would NEVER teach children to fight other children in defense of their rights. Law Enforcement and Military exist to defend the people against abuse. However, what should the people do when Law Enforcement or the Military becomes corrupt and abusive? Guns are not the answer. If you live by the gun, more than likely, you will die by the gun.
A new Constitution is needed that enhances law enforcement and makes sure that there are stiff penalties for law enforcement personnel who violate the rules. The Constitution should allow the people, through their elected representatives, “to assign [law enforcement] particular duties, and establish their protocols and proceedings.”
The people should be able to control their military and demand humane principles in warfare and law enforcement:
“regulate the means of war to the discipline and adherence to humane principles, if such principles are possible.”
Again, THumP®’s constitutional proposals address everything that is necessary to bring humane, sound, common sense structure to law enforcement, and to help ensure the protection of the people from their own law enforcement officials without having to own their own guns.
Article I, Section 9, Powers of Congress
f. Power to Declare War. TO declare War, and call for the Military to execute the laws of the Republic and protect this Constitution and its authorities from any insurrections or invasion, both domestic and foreign, and regulate the means of war to the discipline and adherence to humane principles, if such principles are possible.
g. Power to Support the Military. TO raise and support the four branches of the Military: Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps; and TO assign their particular duties, and establish their protocols and proceedings. Congress shall have no power to appoint or command any branch of the Military, for any reason. TO provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Military, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the Republic. Congress shall cede to the President the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Military according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.
h. Power to Establish One Federal Law Enforcement Agency. TO raise and support a single Federal Law Enforcement Agency whose jurisdiction shall not extend beyond the borders of the Republic, which border includes any of its holdings as acquired in compliance with Article I, Section 9(i.); and TO assign their particular duties, and establish their protocols and proceedings. TO give this Agency the necessary authorities and rights to protect and execute the laws of the Republic and this Constitution; TO determine a just punishment for any citizen of the Republic or for any foreign person who violates any law within the boundaries of the Republic. Congress shall pass no law granting immunity from punishment to any person, for any reason, at any time.
Article IV,
Section 4 – Right to Protection by Law Enforcement Agencies and the Armed Forces
a. Number of Law Enforcement Officers per Population. There shall be one hundred law enforcement officers assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population over one million persons; seventy-five assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population over five-hundred thousand persons; fifty assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population over two hundred fifty thousand persons; twenty-five assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population at or under one hundred thousand persons.
b. One Law Enforcement Agency. There shall be one law enforcement agency empowered throughout the Republic. Upon adoption of this Constitution, this agency shall incorporate and assimilate into its single force and supervision the current Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, Homeland Security, the Secret Service, State, Local, and any other branch of Law Enforcement that exists and was established outside of the single entity established by this Constitution.
a. Law Enforcement Education and Removal from Position. All officers commissioned in their duties to provide supervisory authority in any law enforcement capacity shall be required to attend a law enforcement education course of not less than two years. All non-commissioned personnel shall attend a law enforcement education course of not less than one year. Congress shall establish the curriculum and training of this course of education. Law enforcement officers and personnel shall serve and protect the people in the enforcement of the laws established by Congress under this Constitution and shall be prohibited from the violation of these laws or the enforcement of any other law. Any officer or law enforcement personnel who violates the law, in any way, after having been found guilty of any felony by a legally established Court, shall be denied and forever prohibited from possessing the rights of law enforcement established by this Constitution.
b. Use of Lethal and Non-lethal Weapons by Law Enforcement Personnel. Each law enforcement personnel, as prescribed by Congress, shall be armed with two forms of weapons, one non-lethal and one lethal. Congress shall outline the specific guidelines for the use of non-lethal and lethal weapons to subdue a person. Each officer shall be required to wear a uniform-mounted video camera at all times while on duty. Any officer who does not record the events of that officer’s interactions with any person, unless the ability to do so is inhibited, in any way, by that person, that officer’s actions, or that person’s, shall not be admissible as evidence against that person in a Court of law.
c. Armed Militia. There shall be one Republic Armed Militia whose proceedings, protocols and offices shall be established by Congress; and which, upon adoption of this Constitution, shall assimilate and incorporate into its force the current Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Border Patrol, and any other military force currently established.
d. Supervision of Military and Law Enforcement. The Republic Militia and the Federal Law Enforcement Agency shall be under the direct supervision of the President, as given Executive authority pursuant to Article II, Sections 2(a.) and (b.) and under the guidelines of Congress as described in Article 1, Sections 9(g.) and (h.) of this Constitution.
Section 5 – Right to Bear Arms
a. Authorization to Bear Arms. No person shall have the right to bear arms except those authorized by law to do so under Section 4 of this Article. The right to bear arms shall be strictly prohibited, except as authorized by Congress.
b. Arms for Sport and Entertainment.
The people shall have the right to bear arms for sport or entertainment exclusively under the supervision of Armories and Weapon Facilities as determined and established by Congress.
c. Manufacture and Distribution of Weapons. It shall be strictly prohibited for any person or entity to manufacture or distribute any weapon or any of its ammunition, of any kind, except as authorized by Congress for the sake of law enforcement, for the sake of the Military, or for the sake of personal sport as authorized by Congress.
d. Possession of Weapons and Ammunition and Related Punishments. The possession of any weapon or ammunition by any person in violation of this Article shall be a first-degree felony offense and punished by imprisonment for six months on that person’s first offense, one year on the second offense, and then an additional one year of imprisonment for each new offense thereafter. A person who commits a crime with any arm, of any kind, shall be required to serve a period 50% longer than the sentence requirements of the original crime.
e. Weapons Importation. The importation of any weapon into the Republic without Congressional approval shall be considered an act of war or treason against the people of the Republic by the person or entity that initiated or performed the act.
THumP® has the solutions. No one else does.