Firearms ban threatens civil liberties

Cavalier Daily (University of Virginia) ^ | Nov 20, 2002 | Anthony Dick

[ml/nj]

Citizens of the state of Virginia are legally allowed to carry concealed handguns so long as they are at least 21 years old and a judge has decided that they do not have a history of violence or irresponsibility. Aside from having their right-to-carry explicitly granted in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, no one can dispute that Virginians use their firearms in numerous instances of self-defense and violent crime prevention each year. On the Grounds of our University, however, this individual right is blatantly denied by University regulations.

[putupon]

The Second Amendment exists and American citizens are free to carry concealed handguns for a reason

Wahoowa, but armed drunks on Rugby Road on a Friday night could create some problems.

[SteveH]

University of Virginia bang

[an amused spectator]

Aside from having their right-to-carry explicitly granted in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

The Second Amendment does NOT grant the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

[toddst]

The Second Amendment does NOT grant the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

OK, give us the straight of it.

[Knitebane]

The previous poster is correct. The 2nd enumerates a right, it does not grant it. The right comes from our Creator.

[an amused spectator]

As a Free Man, you are born with the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, just as you are born with the Right to Free Speech, etc., etc. The Second Amendment merely recognizes that the pre-existing Right cannot be infringed by the federal government. It doesn't grant anything, a common and dangerous misconception.

Men who are born as subjects, like the Brits, have no Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which is why the British government got away with its gun seizures.

[ml/nj]

The Second Amendment does NOT grant the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

While you nit pick over words (and even echo a line that might have come from the Brady Bunch), you miss the larger point here. That is: this is an editorial from a major university newspaper which demonstrates that there is more than knee-jerk leftist thinking on at least some campuses today.

ML/NJ

[society-by-contract]

"As a Free Man, you are born with the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, just as you are born with the Right to Free Speech, etc., etc. The Second Amendment merely recognizes that the pre-existing Right cannot be infringed by the federal government. It doesn't grant anything, a common and dangerous misconception."

100% correct; what the government grants, it can take away. As sovereign individuals we all have the rights including ownership of our own bodies and, by extension of this axiom, have the right to own property, including firearms.

http://www.jpfo.org

[toddst]

We don.t disagree. I just wanted to see how you would articulate your interpretation of our right to keep and, well you know.

[packrat01]

never let a sign stop you from carrying.

that said, it's just not smart to carry into a police station...

[an amused spectator]

Actually, I caught the larger point, and you are entirely correct. It is heartening to see a pro-gun editorial that will be read by a lot of impressionable young minds, and for that I rate this article a GREAT post.

I singled out that particular line because a Free Republic Constitutionalist should know in his/her soul that you are born with the Rights of a free man, and are not "granted" them by a document with which the Left is continually wiping its pinko posterior. You've been around here a while (**grin**), so I didn't post it for your benefit.

There's always a few on FR who need to really think about what the Constitution is. I myself only learned this stuff through the spirited discussion of these matters on FR, which is a Constitutional forum.

[an amused spectator]

I just wanted to see how you would articulate your interpretation

So, did I articulate it well? :-)

[FreeTally]

The Second Amendment merely recognizes that the pre-existing Right cannot be infringed by the federal government.

One correction. That's not "federal government", thats any government.

[Teacher317]

In the past 30 minutes, my university sent out an e-mail detailing a robbery at knife-point that happened on campus at midnight last night.

I have a CCW, but I'm not sure I'd be allowed to carry on campus. The only school rule I found forbade firearms on campus "without good cause".

[upier]

The Second Amendment does NOT grant the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

The second amendment does not grant the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, it states that it is a right you already have and the government cannot take that right away.

[toddst]

10-4 on articulate well. I was just not sure from your first brief comment what position you were taking. We agree BTW.

[an amused spectator]

Thanks for the correction. It is just so.

Other than sloppy verbiage on the part of the author of this piece, it's good to see that our little mush-heaed darlings on campus are getting exposed to this kind of thinking, hey?