By Tom McElvy
Special to VNS

Over the last year or so, I have been listening/reading a lot of the rhetoric online, everything from the talking heads to John Q. Public.  While opinions are running rampant. there are some things to consider.

For example, the anti-gun lobby (usually Democrats) says that the framers of The Constitution did not envision assault weapons, hand grenades, tasers, hundred round magazines, etc., therefore they cannot be validly considered as protected under the 2nd Amendment.

Well, using that excuse, then gay marriage cannot be condoned.  Neither can Civil Rights for blacks and other minorities.  Women's suffrage was never in the Constitution's Bill of Rights.  The IRS should not be around.  None of these were envisioned by the framers.

Of course, Amendments to the Constitution allowed much of this.  As it should be.  The people should be able to help shape and mold the Constitution, through amendments.  However, the most basic of rights, the first ten as contained in the Bill of Rights, should never be infringed upon.

For ANY reason.

Amendments to add more rights are fine.  We all like more rights.  While I am not a homosexual, I support the right for gays to exist..  

I don't like assault weapons, but I will defend to the death your right to own one.  

However, as I said, the basic 10 should not - nay CANNOT - be interfered with in any way.  There is some truth to the concept that the framers did not envision assault weapons.  

Nor did they envision cameras, television, the Internet, or anything else that technology has wrought upon us.

Stop trying to manipulate the Constitution.  It says we have the right to bear arms.  It does not say "...except automatic weapons," etc.  If we go there, then we MUST follow through, and reverse many of the advances in societal evolution that we have made thanks to the wonderful document that the Constitution is.  And the intelligence of the American people.

The Constitution is a most unique document.  Nothing like it has ever existed like it in the world, and many newer nations have tried to copy it.  

Tried and failed.  They do not have the resolve of the patriots in the United States to protect it with their lives.  And as long as we protect that document, and what it stands for, with our lives, this nation will never perish from the face of the earth.

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Halie Hovenga  - Two Flaws to the logic of this argument |68.10.121.145 |08-01-2012 08:00:40 Tom, the flaws in your argument may at first not be clear, but if you look closely, you will see them. I see two, the assertion of a bioconditional and equivocation. 1) Bioconditional: You state that if we accept A then and only then is B valid, and if we accept not A then and only then is B not valid. That is not the case. It is not true that if we accept the premise that because the founders did not foresee modern demands upon the constitution that ALL must either be true/good/acceptable or false/bad/unacceptable. To the contrary, the Constitution is written in such a way that it necessitates Interpretation and allows for change, including amendments, which makes clear the awareness of the authors of an evolving society and unforeseeable demands placed upon the document. And you are equivocating in your argument because you are comparing a previously established (2nd) amendment to later amendments which must be interpreted for their own context. The 2nd amendment must be interpr... Reply

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