I caught part of a story on NPR driving home today about an Oregon teacher who wants her school to allow her to carry a gun on campus. She has a conceal-carry permit and is worried about her ex-husband doing her harm and all of the school shootings.
Now, leaving aside the actual argument of whether or not this is a good idea, I want to address one of the arguments she gives for allowing it. It is one I have heard frequently from gun-rights activists. "It's my second amendment right." These people seem to think that because it is a right, there can be no limits on it whatsoever. Unfortunately for them, that is not the case.
Free speech is a right, but we put limits on it. You can't shout "Fire!" in a theater just because. You can't tell deliberate lies about someone or something in a newspaper. I don't think anyone (well, I'm sure there is some nut who would disagree) thinks that these limits are bad. Why should it be different for the right to bear arms. Why shouldn't there be limits on it as well? The teacher in the story dodged the question when she was asked why she should be allowed to bring a gun to school when she couldn't take it into a bank or the federal building. She played the card of "we need to make sure our kids our safe" and "you never know what's going to happen."
Fear has become the basis for far too many decisions in America. I'm not saying we shouldn't take steps to be safe, but I am saying we need to stop making decisions based on "Oh, my God! What if?!"
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Guns. We Need Lots of Guns.
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2 comments:
"Fear has become the basis for far too many decisions in America. I'm not saying we shouldn't take steps to be safe, but I am saying we need to stop making decisions based on "Oh, my God! What if?!"
-I agree. But most gun laws are based on this very principle. I'm not necessarily an advocate of a teacher taking a gun to class, but I'll be honest. If I am going to error on this one, I'll error on the side of people being allowed their right to bear arms, just as I probably error on the liberal side of freedom of speech.
Despite what Michael Moore says, guns are not the the root of the problem. That's my take anyhoo.
I wasn't trying to get into the whole nature of the gun argument. It would take more than a couple of paragraphs and truthfully, I'm not sure exactly where I stand on it. I just was attempting to address the "It's my Constitutional right!" argument.
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