Those Nasty Loopholes |
The largest loophole in the present law is the Second Amendment. This loophole is full of vague phrases, like the people and infringed. Now that the word is has been redefined by the Clinton/Gore Administration and accepted by the bipartisan Senate, perhaps it is time for Congress to set about defining exactly which people are being referred to in:
Equally problematic are phrases like:
Our Founding Fathers had an answer to this question, in the Declaration of Independence: we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. The Bill of rights enumerates certain of those unalienable rights that were essential to protect the people against a government turned despotic. These rights are absolutes. They are not guidelines or suggestions. Any attempt to undermine any of these absolute rights undermines them all.
The history books tell the tale of another people who were beguiled into forfeiting their constitutional rights. It happened in the Weimar Republic in February 1933. For some reason, their parliament building caught fire, creating widespread concern over law and order. By the end of March, the Weimar legislature passed the Law for Terminating the Suffering of People and Nation, essentially granting Adolph Hitler dictatorial power. This was reasonable to eliminate the loopholes.
Back in America, the desire for law and order sent hundreds of thousands of mothers marching on Washington, demanding reasonable gun safety laws to stem the growing tide of death. There are only a few problems with this laudable sentiment. There is no growing tide of death. In fact, on a per-capita basis, gun accidents have been falling for years, and only media coverage has increased. Gun-related deaths among small children are significantly less common than deaths due to fire, water, or automobiles. The largest category of gun-related deaths among children are found among the older teens, as a result of violent gang-related activities in which they themselves are engaged.
Ironically, the Juvenile Crime Bill, containing reasonable restrictions on the Bill of Rights that these marching moms want Congress to pass to protect children, defines the activities of these same older teens as adult crimes with adult penalties.
Permission is granted to view this material on the World Wide Web. All other rights reserved.
Information provided on this page is "AS-IS" with no warranty regarding its accuracy. Please report any suspected errors or comments to Liberty@AmeriRoots.com
Last updated: August 20, 2000; Version: 1.1