Your 2nd Ammendment

And now, after over two hundred years of debate, the Supreme Court has decided to wade in on our apparent right to bear arms. The age old argument is whether the framers of the constitution were speaking to the rights of the individual or the state. There certainly are quite a few compelling arguments on both sides. Being a gun owner and having had to discharge a weapon for the purpose of protecting my own life, I have some very firm beliefs on the subject, but having seen the damage that high velocity rounds can do to the human body, I certainly understand those that are opposed, so I won’t dwell on that part of the discussion.

The real discussion is what were the framers thinking? A recent article written by the Attorney General of Michigan, a Mr. Mike Cox recently visited this topic, which was published in the Wall Street Journal. Being an AG I was a bit surprised to read his thoughts, but you can find the article on line and it’s certainly worth a read. In short, he reviewed the language of each of the amendments and pointed out that one very key fact that many miss. As you read each amendment, it’s obvious that they address the rights of the individual over the state because the framers realized that anytime power exists, the larger organization will always attempt to control the smaller.

It’s equally important to understand that the Constitution was not considered a “perfect document”, but as Dr. Franklin eloquently stated “it’s as perfect a document as we are going to get”. It was the best group of compromises that the country would be satisfied with and did not reflect only the Federalists or Anti-Federalists point of view; it attempted to serve as an embodiment of both.

For those not afraid to dive into the subject or those that are generally curious I am including a tag for this article and would encourage you to take the time to read it. Probably one of the better critical analysis of law I’ve read in quite some time and one that I would sincerely like every American to read, if for no other reason than to spark more debate and discussion on that all too important document that too many of us quote, but don’t always fully understand.

The Mike Cox article can be found:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119577460419701535.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

By the way, I took a few moments to email Mr. Cox and encourage him to submit his article as a "friend of the court" briefing to the Solicitor General. Wether you agree or disagree with Mike, talk about this with your friends and neighbors. After all, these are our rights .... and we best not waste them ....