Posted on 05/12/2005 7:54:41 PM PDT by paul_fromatlanta
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, recalling how her father took up arms to defend fellow blacks from racist whites in the segregated South, said Wednesday the constitutional right of Americans to own guns is as important as their rights to free speech and religion.
In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Rice said she came to that view from personal experience. She said her father, a black minister, and his friends armed themselves to defended the black community in Birmingham, Ala., against the White Knight Riders in 1962 and 1963. She said if local authorities had had lists of registered weapons, she did not think her father and other blacks would have been able to defend themselves.
Birmingham, where Rice was born in 1954, was a focal point of racial tension. Four black girls were killed when a bomb exploded at a Birmingham church in 1963, a galvanizing moment in the fight for civil rights.
Rice said she favored background checks and controls at gun shows. However, she added, "we have to be very careful when we start abridging rights that the Founding Fathers thought very important."
Rice said the Founding Fathers understood "there might be circumstances that people like my father experienced in Birmingham, Ala., when, in fact, the police weren't going to protect you."
"I also don't think we get to pick and choose from the Constitution," she said in the interview, which was taped for airing Wednesday night. "The Second Amendment is as important as the First Amendment."
The First Amendment protects religious, press and speech freedoms as well as the rights to assemble and petition the government. The Second Amendment guarantees "a well-regulated militia" and "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." Gun-rights supporters and those who favor gun control disagree over whether the amendment guarantees individual gun ownership.
I don't care what she wanna run. I'm glad that she values our important right.
They just simply can't stop lying about the Second Amendment. It doesn't guarantee a "well-regulated militia." Instead, it asserts that having one is necessary to the preservation of a Free State, and therefore protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
>>They just simply can't stop lying about the Second Amendment. It doesn't guarantee a "well-regulated militia." Instead, it asserts that having one is necessary to the preservation of a Free State, and therefore protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms.<<
I know...
And an enourmous amount of trouble would have been saved if they hadn't tried to explain why and just said people had the right to keep and bear arms.... we'd all be safer because the right self defense would be stronger.
Well, I disagree with Condi. Gun rights are MORE IMPORTANT than free speech. If the politicians weren't afraid of armed citizens, they would trample our rights.
Well, in defense of Condi, I don't think it's lying but a case of faulty reasoning or interpretation.
Yes..as I've said before, without the 2nd ammendment the 1st ammendment is moot.
The founding fathers knew that "free speech" needed something to "back it up".
>>Gun rights are MORE IMPORTANT than free speech. If the politicians weren't afraid of armed citizens, they would trample our rights.<<
I agree but not specifically for protection from the government.
I think the fundamental human right is the right of self defense, of which gun rights are a part. Without the right of self defense and the right to defend those we care about all other rights are are risk or even lost.
How do you know she meant anything different than the background checks done there now by FLL dealers?????? You don't. She may or she may not. When was the last time you heard someone speak out so strongly for the 2nd amendment saying it is as important as the 1st huummmmm. Espically on TV. You usually hear the
"I support the 2nd amendment" and that is as far as they go. She went much futher. She did not hemhaw around about duck hunting----She stated quite clearly self-defense. She also did so as a very highly educated black woman. That in itself is breathtaking. When have you heard such a person do that!!!!!!!! She was GREAT and BROKE new ground.
This headline is ambiguous. Are gun rights an important form of free speech? Is carrying a sidearm "freedom of expression"? I'm "down" with that. That's how liberals interpret things, so I don't see why anyone would have a problem with it.
(My apologies to anyone who felt cheated because I didn't fully "disambiguate" the headline for them.)
(Oh, and in case you were wondering, the sarcasm tag is implied here.)
>>This headline is ambiguous<<
Yes it is... I don't if the headline is original to Yahoo or if it came with the AP story.
Not just self-defense, but self-defense against the local police and government authorities. Yes, Condi understands what the 2nd Amendment is about, and she's black (and from the most viciously oppressed portion of black society that this generation has known), female, Secretary of State, and not afraid to say on national TV what the 2nd Amendment is really about. A lot of people who were sure they they wanted more gun control, will be wavering on that position after hearing her.
Well, now, isn't that special?
You've got it exactly right, my friend. We'll see how fast this she-leopard can change her spots as '08 approaches.
You don't need a background check to be allowed to publish a newspaper article, which can bring down an entire presidency, so why would you need a background check to be allowed to defend your own life?
Rice 2008.
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