Tag Archives: rights

The US Bill of Rights (courtesy of Wikipedia)

The reality of the new math of the 21st century is that guns are not really all that essential to preventing government overreach.  Just ask Aaron Swartz and Bradley Manning.  Just ask the folks who stood by and watched Occupy Richmond get bulldozed to the ground in the wee hours of the morning.

The U.S. Government doesn’t use flintlock rifles and muzzle-loaders — they just use muzzles.  They don’t march in and openly declare war — they use drones and courts and psychological warfare.

Let’s say you get to keep your Bushmaster rifle complete with drum magazine.  If you can’t assemble, communicate without being under secret surveillance, move around without being tracked, or have a free and open internet, how are you going to resist?  Who exactly are you going to shoot?  The alleged terrorists in Pakistan who are getting droned out of existence (along with hundreds of innocent women and children) have plenty of guns, but they haven’t got anybody to shoot. Don’t forget that drones have been approved for use on U.S. soil.  Are you going to shoot the drones out of the sky?  Are you going to shoot the innocent guy who shows up to serve you a summons to appear in Federal court?

By all means, let’s not surrender our 2nd Amendment rights.  But in the end, which is the more powerful right — your 2nd Amendment Right to bear arms, or your 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble?  Or your 5th and 6th Amendment rights to a speedy, fair, and public trial by your peers?

Let’s put our social differences and the finer details aside and come together — Tea Partiers, Anarchists, Libertarians, Leftists and Centrists — and fight for those rights that matter most in a 21st Century world.

Here’s the list of Constitutional Amendments from Wikipedia.  Take a look a look at this list and see if you think we have our priorities straight.