Here in NH, Article 2-A says it far better than the Second Amendment:
[Art.] 2-a. [The Bearing of Arms.] All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.
Words have meanings – certain meanings. In my understanding, Article 2-A says exactly what the 2nd Amendment means and far plainer so that the civilian disarmament lobby can’t twist things (never saying that at the time of its writing, for instance, that the “milita” is ALL of us). I’m certainly not an absolutist but given what Kelly Ayotte said tonight on the US Senate Floor, I do wonder what the rest of the Second Amendment supporters are going to do come November
Sidenote: Actually, I lie. I know exactly what is going to happen – she is going to get Browned.
And we are the LAST people she wants to tick off. All that has to happen, given the fight for her Senate seat by Maggie Hassan, is she trying to “middle size” herself? God help her (actually, please don’t) if she decides to go to the center on abortion, given the last election’s treatment of the NH GOP top candidates. Yet, she, a layer and former Top Lawyer as NH’s Attorney General (and ran, at least at times, as being guided by the Constitution), said these words:
WMUR NEws 9 6pm 2016-06-20
But the reality is, had he been on the list, like he had been previously, before the investigation was closed, the FBI would have been notified of his firearm purchase.
Fox News Special Report 2016-06-20
By all accounts, these proposals are likely to fail again and we will be right back where we started. No safer, no smarter, no more successful in protecting our citizens.
Safety before Freedom – and we all are familiar with what Benjamin Franklin said on that matter. Security before Rights, Kelly, no matter how “good” the intentions or desired outcomes are? When I read the Union Leader piece on her support for Maine’s Senator Susan Collins, I grow weary of the additional “shave” that Ayotte is willing to subject to both Constitutions and American citizens in the effort to “protect” us by lessening Constitutional restriction on politicians like her (reformatted, emphasis mine):
…Republican Susan Collins of Maine, leading the new effort, is considering a more tailored approach. It would prevent the sale of guns to terrorism suspects whose names appear on either the government’s “no-fly” list, which bans them from boarding planes, or a so-called “selectee” list that requires additional screening at airports, her office said in an emailed statement. These lists are much shorter than a broad terrorism watch list kept by the FBI.
Two lists that we American citizens can’t view nor can we know the information and process by which we are placed – just like deceased US Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy, journalist Stephen Hayward (Weekly Standard, simply for flying 1 way to Turkey – no, not to join ISIS but to get on a cruise ship) and the 8 year old Cub Scout. And others. Sure, while most on the list are not citizens, some are and it is like Hotel California – once in, you can’t get out.
And lose a Constitutional Rights – the freedom to travel and to own and bear arms. Plus, we can throw in the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. IF THEY ARE THAT BAD, ARREST THEM! Seriously – if they shouldn’t be flying, they shouldn’t be out in public either.
THAT is just “common sense” (and HOW I have come to loathe that phrase lately).
Collins’ measure also includes a five-year “look-back” provision that would notify the government if someone who had been on the “no-fly” or “selectee” list in the last five years, but was dropped, purchases a gun. “That would allow the FBI to put the individual under surveillance or take other appropriate action it deems necessary,” Collins’ office said.
Remember when just after Obama assumed the Presidency that DHS issued that “Who’s a Terrorist Now?” document (here, here, and here), how much (and how long) would it take for names to just get dropped into that list, eh Kelly? Heck, just start taking the names from the IRS, Social Security, and the Veterans Administration and voila! Insta-List!
…Collins’ proposal likely would be offered in the Republican-led Senate sometime next week, provided the four other gun-control proposals fail to pass on Monday. Collins is working on the legislation with Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona; she has also been talking to Democrats.
Which they all did – none of them passed cloture to go on to the real vote.
A senior Democratic aide said that Democrats have concerns that under Collins’ bill, some people credibly suspected of involvement in terrorism would not be covered by the weapons ban. Collins told reporters on Thursday that barring everyone on terrorism watch lists from weapons purchases carried with it the risk of affecting people who have been swept onto the lists without good cause.
EXACTLY!
…“What we’re trying to do is not deny constitutional rights to a large group of individuals” who find themselves on watch lists despite the fact that there might not be credible evidence of potential criminal intentions, Collins said.
But that’s exactly what will happen – pragmatism is no respecter of Constitutional boundaries. It was supposed to be a sharp, high, barbed wire fence that says “thus far and no further” – thanks to Progressivism these last 130 years, it seemingly has become a very low, thin, rock wall like I have in my backyard.
These “leaders” will now have perverted those Rights by forcing innocent Citizens to petition The State to get their Rights back? Oh, no big deal, I bet Kelly and her ilk say – there will be “due process” in getting them back. Sure, if you have the time to take off from work and the thousands of dollars it will take to hire lawyers to defend themselves in court – for something that is the Government’s fault in the first place?
That’s no “due process” as the due process should have been upfront and in front of that list. After all, we’ve all watched the weaponization of the FEC and IRS, right Kelly? You’ve spoken out against that, haven’t you – and yet you’re in favor of formally institutionalizing it? Small consolation, Kelly:
“Under this proposal, they would also be allowed to recover attorney’s fees,” said Ayotte.
And how long will that take, given the might and the money The State has – and the ability to just wear down and wait out those that have been wronged? And again, those that have the money upfront? Hey Kelly – are you personally willing to give all those folk a payday loan upfront. They way you so blithely say that, it wouldn’t take long at all. After all, if you are proposing it, and saying that, how about doing what few politicians are willing to do – put your own skin into the game. After all, they must be good for it – you’re so willing to “give back” on the back end, right?
I wonder what those farmers, who placed my rocks in those walls as they prepped the soil for tillage, would say if they saw our elected officials…
..or us that keep putting them there?
, a few
