In 1689, John Locke wrote “Two Treatises on Government.” His ideas informed the men who drafted the US Constitution. In the second treatise, Locke drew a distinction between liberty and license. It seems to me the founding fathers agreed that Locke was essentially correct – liberty does not mean we can do anything we desire. In other words, liberty must follow certain principles.
“But though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of license…no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions; for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker; all the servants of one sovereign Master, sent into the world by His order and about His business; they are His property, whose workmanship they are made to last during His, not one another’s pleasure. And, being furnished with like faculties, sharing all in one community of Nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another’s uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for ours. Every one as he is bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station willfully, so by the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he as much as he can to preserve the rest of mankind, and not unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.”
The right to bear arms has its roots in the American Revolution, during which colonists threw off an oppressive regime. Yet, I believe there are even higher principles at work, and one of these is the idea that those who bear arms must also be able to bear the awesome responsibility that comes with that right.
Some people say things like, “We need the right to bear arms to defend ourselves from a tyrannical government.” This is a chilling statement, even if we ignore the fact that the US military has weapons that make the AR-15 seem like a pop gun. It seems to me, if we ever need to fight our own government with small arms, we will have failed as a nation.
The US Constitution provides for elected representatives and a peaceful transfer of power. If “We the People” continue to vote for extremists or persons who lack integrity and good character, or we just fail to vote, our country will become a failed state. If we continue to have January 6 riots in which an irrational mob rebels against a peaceful transfer of power, our republic will fail. If this happens, military-style rifles might give gangs a fighting chance against other gangs, but a total failure of democratic governance means we may go back to the middle ages – except this time with bullets and people who wanted the federal government to fail so they could deploy their arsenals.
Iran and North Korea insist they need to have nuclear weapons – for national defense, to feel secure, to achieve parity, and so on. Historically, military power has been thought to make countries great. Maybe the desire to defeat enemies, control territories, and exert dominance, if not supremacy, is part of being human. In the old west, guns were called “the great equalizer.” Nevertheless, in the long run, more and bigger weapons are not the answer to our problems. More guns can only lead to more violence, more terror, and more difficulty stopping the bloodshed. Do we really want our children to be massacred in schools, so the Second Amendment can remain sacrosanct and gun companies can make bigger profits? Do we really want life to devolve into a much deadlier version of the wild west? Do we really want the survivors to pry the guns out of everyone else’s “cold, dead hands” after our nation falls apart?
I’m asking these questions in a spirit of respect for the Second Amendment and concern that with every right must come a responsibility. It seems to me our founding fathers understood this. The US Constitution says nothing about the weapons of the 21st Century or mass shootings of innocent school children. If the authors of the Bill of Rights had considered either of these possibilities, it seems to me they might have cautioned future generations about the dangers of taking their rights too far.
“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined…” – George Washington
“The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” – Samuel Adams
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