Self Evident Rights

Via The Bitch Girls, we have this letter to the editor of a Mississippi paper from a former British subject. The writer feels that we Americans value our right to bear arms too fervently and should become more civilized, perhaps I suspect more in line with his former country.

Here is the most relevent portion:

Do I want the government to have a monopoly on force? You betcha! Those we elect and appoint to protect us need to hold all the cards. The time at which officialdom might abuse such a monopoly is miniscule when compared to the daily slaughter of Americans by Americans throughout the land.

I am a relatively new American, having migrated from Britain in 1965, and becoming an ardent American citizen in 1976. I realize that the desire to bear arms is a matter going back to the founding of the nation and is deep in the soul of most Americans in a way which I cannot feel or understand. This right will not be changed easily or overnight. But it must change in the fullness of time. The presence of semi-automatic weapons in the hands of the public and the general ease with which current gun laws are circumvented is counter productive to a people seeking public safety and mutual respect.

John Paul

Jackson

Bitter thinks he might feel more at home in a less freedom loving state like New Jersey or Massachusetts. I would concur, but add that maybe he would be happier moving back to where he came from, namely Britain, a country who's government no longer seems to believe in inherent rights.

To become a citizen of the United States, you have to study the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. John Paul must have read those documents at some point. Obviously he read them but understood nothing.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --


In today’s language: We are born with Rights that are a fundamental part of our humanity. Everyone has those Rights whether or not they or their government choses to recognize them. People in North Korea, New Hampshire, Great Britain and Iraq have those Rights. They are part of what makes us human beings. Part of what it means to be an American is the ability to recognize those Rights. One of those fundamental rights is the Right to Bear Arms which was iterated by our founders in the 2nd Amendment to the Bill of Rights. The Founding Fathers recognized this Right to be so important and vital that it was one of the ten they thought needed to be listed for posterity.

If a person who has been a citizen of this country for nearly 30 years cannot understand this fundamental aspect of what America is all about and in fact wants to change this nation into one that no longer recognizes the right to bear arms and probably other fundamental rights, I would argue that that person should leave this country and seek citizenship in one that better suits their belief system. His home country of Great Britain seems to be an ideal choice since the current government seems to be hell bent on ignoring the ancient rights that even Henry the VIII accorded to his subjects. Rights like double jeopardy and the right to confront ones accusers, as well as the right to bear arms.