OpEd:
On the Right to Bear Arms
August 20, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: America, Freedoms, Gun Control, Guns, Obama, Politics
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There are freedoms and rights in America – this is common knowledge.
What many fail to understand is that these freedoms and rights are given to citizens only until doing so becomes dangerous for said citizen, other citizens, or related parties. "Freedom of Assembly" is overruled by the concern for the safety of citizens when a crowd becomes too unruly or participates in mob activities, with numerous other examples for the temporary suspension of other liberties that American citizens enjoy.
Thus, in light of recent events, the question becomes: why is the “right to keep and bear arms” superseding the safety of other citizens, and, more specifically, that of Congressmen and the President?
Regardless of certain state laws, the ability to own and publicly carry an automatic rifle is not an intelligent piece of legislation, largely evidenced by the illegality of such an action in almost all of the American States. The presence of such weaponry in an already emotionally precarious situation is highly dangerous, especially when the individuals carrying these weapons are extremely angry, upset, and in opposition to the high profile individual speaking a short distance from them. President Obama’s safety has already been questioned, numerous times, and now the safety of Congressmen that support legitimate healthcare reform (read: Democrats, or Republicans that don’t mouth the party line) is being called into question by the insane actions of disgruntled citizens.
These individuals that bring weapons to events intended to be debates obviously imagine themselves as exercising their rights and freedoms as American citizens, but their intelligence, sanity, and general presence of mind must be challenged: if a gun, of any kind, was not allowed at the President’s Inauguration earlier this year, why is it acceptable to bring dangerous projectile weapons to heated exchanges involving Congressmen? Is it because they are “merely” Congressmen, and not the President?
Even more important than the fact that weapons are being brought to these events, which has a highly probable and fatal conclusion, is that the local authorities are allowing such behavior. When President Obama speaks at town hall meetings, as he did recently, it should be noted that there are no weapons present in the event – this is inflexible in the minds of the Secret Service and others tasked with defending the President. But those who do not enter are not subject to these rules, and the local police allow attendees of what amounts to an unruly demonstration, where the President is not present, carry weaponry. That these same gun-toting individuals prefer to quote Thomas Jefferson regarding violent government overthrow and use patently false racist, xenophobic, fear-mongering propaganda as a basis for their so-called arguments is truly frightening.
Imagine for a second that an individual carried visible weapons with them into an airport but didn’t go through security to attain gate access, or lurked in the back of a concert venue, outside the security fence, with both weapons and a line of sight to music industry celebrities – would these activities be accepted as exercising the right to bear arms? Or would security, police, and other fast response teams not only forcefully prevent such actions, but also likely interrogate the individual? Almost certainly the latter.
President Obama, and the rest of Congress, deserve a layer of security and safe comfort when appearing in public, especially at the moment, even if it temporarily violates local or state regulations and suspends an otherwise unalienable right. Someone imagining themselves as somehow key to a nonexistent revolution does not need the deadly combination of ease of access and legal weaponry to entice them into action. In the event an actual revolution were to begin, it would not announce itself with the violent slaughter of a public official by a single, crazed individual on national television – that has a different label:
Domestic terrorism.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
