The implications of yesterday’s Second Amendment Freedom Rally (see below) keep growing in light of ongoing news stories.
Such as Republican politicians caving in on Obamacare.
Such as the leak of the Obama administration’s rationale for drone strikes against U.S. citizens who have not been indicted or charged with a crime.
And revelations about the extent of the CIA’s detention and rendition program.
Yesterday Bill LuMaye and other rally speakers put it in perspective. To paraphrase what they said:
On April 19, 1775, at Lexington and Concord, American militia clashed with British troops who were marching to confiscate patriot weapons.
What would those Americans have done if the king had tried to command them to buy the services of certain doctors approved by the crown? Had proclaimed he had the right to grab citizens off the streets and even assassinate them?
The point is that if the president has or claims all these powers, why wouldn’t he also have the power to confiscate citizens’ guns? Or tell them what books they could read? Or what churches they could worship in?
Yesterday speaker after speaker pointed out that our rights are God-given rights. Politicians don’t dole them out to us, the way they pass out surplus cheese. We are given these rights under “the laws of nature and nature’s God”; government can’t take them away. They can’t decide which rights are “necessary” or which are too expensive or dangerous for us to have.
Nor can we give them away, even if it is financially expedient to do so. That’s why it’s so shameful that some Republicans have surrendered on Medicaid expansion, just because the feds are willing to bribe them with D.C. funny money.
Our rights are connected. If there is a rationale for subverting one, that rationale applies to the others. That’s why it’s important to protect them all, without compromise and without being distracted by short-term considerations.
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From Tuesday, Feb. 5: One main theme of today’s Second Amendment Freedom Rally was that the underlying issue isn’t necessarily the right to self-defense, but the need to defend the constitutional order.
Radio host Bill LuMaye opened the noon rally at the Halifax Mall in Raleigh by saying that without the Second Amendment, “I’m not sure the rest of our freedoms would be around for long.” He noted how government power is growing, perhaps even to the point of being tyrannical, and that “we live in a time when the Second Amendment is more important than at virtually any time in history.”
He also highlighted the important role the state of North Carolina should play in defending freedom: “It’s the state that stands between you and the federal government.”
That Republicans now control both the legislature and the governor’s mansion gives hope to those defending the Second Amendment, he said, adding, “I would like them to walk the walk” and turn rhetoric into action.
As Glen Bradley, a former state representative said, “the right to bear arms … has to do with checks on power.” He added that when we lose our right to bear arms, we will have lost all our rights.
As Rep. Larry Pittman said, the Second Amendment doesn’t create a right, it “only acknowledges that God gave you that right.”
In short, as the speakers noted, the Constitution doesn’t have the word “necessary” in it. Thus citizens should beware of politicians who say they won’t pass “unnecessary” gun laws.
The Grass Roots North Carolina site has a WRAL video of the event.
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