From the editor's desk: A constitutional right
By Pat Caldwell
Sunday, November 9, 2008 12:30 AM PST
Nothing more clearly illustrates just how uncomfortable the election of Barack Obama is to some special interest groups in the United States than the virtual panic by many gun owners in the wake of the Tuesday decision.
The rumor that Obama is a threat to American’s right to keep and bear arms has floated over the campaign battlefield for some time now, and, as the election approached, the terror seemed to gain a life of its own.
Across the nation, gun owners are on a weapon-buying frenzy since Tuesday, many reporting they fear a new Democratic administration will enact laws that will severely limit the right to keep and bear arms.
At least some of the unease is based on a sliver of fact. For example, President-elect Obama is on the record that he favors “common sense” gun laws (whatever that means), and he supported a plan while in the Senate to make gun-makers and gun merchants open to lawsuits. As a state legislator, he also supported a prohibition on semiautomatic weapons and tougher limitations on gun ownership.
So some of the gun-owner fear is not baseless but, in fact, built on a foundation of words and actions by the next president.
Yet for all the fear and panic and speculation about what the next president may, or may not, try to do about gun ownership, much of it is a lot of white noise for one reason — the Second Amendment.
Not too long ago, the Second Amendment stood open to attack, but a recent Supreme Court decision showed that the chances of a serious gun ban are slim indeed.
The justices overruled a 32-year handgun ban in the District of Columbia and, when doing so, reestablished the basic, and sacred, tenants of the Second Amendment.
For years, there had been idle talk about the meaning of the Second Amendment. Some asserted the amendment really had little to do with private gun ownership but really was all about the militia (or National Guard) of each state.
The justices ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment meant what it said. The amendment was, and is, about private gun ownership and the militia. One is not more important than the other.
While Congress or the president can use whatever mental gymnastics they want to concoct new gun restrictions, the bottom line remains the Second Amendment guarantees that Americans have the right to keep and bear arms.
As the uproar over the next president’s views on guns clearly shows, any kind of full-scale, in-depth move to restrict guns in America would meet with almost instant criticism.
And, frankly, a good share of Americans would ignore it.
The president-elect has every right to his views. People who do not like guns and believe they are the root cause of all violence have a right to express their opinions. As do those who believe guns are a key part of a lifestyle.
At the end of the day, though, the final word on the subject has already been developed and put into the record. It is called the Second Amendment.
Pat Caldwell is the editor of the Argus Observer. He can be contacted at PatC@argusobserver.com
