The U.S. Constitution

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The 2^nd Amendment One of Your Most Important Rights as A U.S. Citizen and The Radical Move President Trump Just did to Protect it

When we look at the start of America’s history, we see how we declared our independence from the King of England to form America as one nation under God, with God as our King. After this, the U.S. Constitution was written forming a government that was by the people, lining out the powers that the government has over the people. It describes all the different branches of government and what power each branch holds. Then the Bill of Rights was added, which is the first ten amendments to the Constitution which lists certain restrictions on the government to protect the rights of individual U.S. citizens. America is a unique experimentation taking place, and we can keep our freedom if we keep it a nation under God while at the same time upholding our Constitutional rights.

Within the Bill of Rights, we will look at one amendment which is discussed often in America and that is the Second Amendment to the Constitution. What is the Second Amendment and how important is it to protect this right? The Second Amendment reads, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This is specifically about the security of a free state and the citizens’ rights to protect themselves. When we look at history in the world, we see where every time a leader took away people’s guns not long after their freedom was also taken, with Hitler being one such leader. In America’s previous administration they were against Americans having gun rights and we openly speak against the police officers in our country who protect our citizens. They were working to polarize the citizens against guns even to the point of wanting to make gun ownership illegal. Supporting the Constitution is good because it is supporting your rights as a citizen, we need to ignore those saying that it is wrong to support it as that is saying no to our freedom. Also, this isn’t praying for us to have guns, but it is praying for Americans to keep our freedoms outlined in the Constitution and with that comes responsibility.

The NRA, National Rifle Association, is an organization that defends U.S. citizens rights to keep and bear arms while also educating people on gun safety and so much more. President Donald Trump spoke at the 2019 NRA convention about the UN Arms Trade Treaty or ATT and how America is working to end this treaty. The NRA reports their stand on ATT and how they have been working to end this treaty as it threatens our citizens Second Amendment rights. “The most pressing international threat to U.S. gun owners is the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Among its most egregious provisions, the treaty encourages national recordkeeping requirements for “end users” of covered arms (including firearms) and suggests that national governments share such records. Further, the ATT compels countries to make arms import and export decisions based upon a trading partner’s willingness to abide by the treaty’s requirements, which could isolate the United States from legitimate trade in arms or force it to adopt restrictions detrimental to Second Amendment rights. During the drafting phase, NRA vigorously advocated for civilian firearm ownership be removed from the treaty’s scope. Those recommendations were ignored, meaning U.S. firearms policy could become the rest of the world’s business and subject to its approval, on pain of trade restrictions if it doesn’t meet “international norms.” Secretary of State John Kerry signed the ATT on behalf of the U.S. on September 25, 2013. NRA continues to work with its Senate allies to prevent ratification or implementation of the treaty in the U.S.”

We join President Trump at the NRA convention to hear his remarks concerning ATT and to see him signing a request to end this treaty. “We have shut down the previous administration’s massive abuse of power known as Operation Choke Point. Under this ill-advised program, government bureaucrats discouraged banks from making loans to gun retailers — a backdoor attack on private gun ownership that will never be allowed to happen on my watch.  That’s step one, folks — step one.  You know what step two, three, and four is.  Step four is: You don’t have guns.  You don’t have any way to protect yourself.

“Today, I’m proud to announce another historic step to protect your Second Amendment rights…So, in the last administration, President Obama signed the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty.  And in his waning days in office, he sent the treaty to the Senate to begin the ratification process. This treaty threatened your subjugate …your rights and your constitutional and international rules and restrictions and regulations. Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone.  We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom.  And that is why my administration will never ratify the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty…And I am officially announcing today that the United States will be revoking the effect of America’s signature from this badly misguided [agreement].  We’re taking our signature back.  The United Nations will soon receive a formal notice that America is rejecting this treaty. 

“As part of this decision, I will sign right now, in front of a lot of witnesses…a message asking the Senate to discontinue the treaty ratification process and to return the now-rejected treaty right back to me, in the Oval Office, where I will dispose of it…By taking these actions, we are reaffirming that American liberty is sacred and that American citizens live by American laws, not the laws of foreign countries.  Thank you.” 

This is encouraging to see because in the last administration Americans were at the point of losing many freedoms which we had covered on our program. God has had mercy on our nation allowing us to keep our freedom! We need to remind ourselves of the history of our nation so that we don’t lose the freedoms that past generations fought for. You can find out more about the Original Intent of America HERE and refresh yourself on American history.

PragerU answers the question for us, is gun ownership a right? Eugene Volokh, Professor of Law at UCLA, speaks for Prager University. “Does an American citizen have a Constitutional right to own a gun? Here’s what the Second Amendment says: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Now, it once seemed to me like that language only protected state militias and not individuals. Indeed, this is the view held by the four dissenting Supreme Court justices in the 2008 case of District of Columbia versus Heller, a landmark case dealing with gun ownership. But the more research I did, the more I came to realize that my initial view was mistaken and that the Founders were, in fact, securing an individual right. The five justices who voted to affirm the right to own a gun in DC versus Heller had, indeed, made the correct decision.” 

He asks us to look at the Second Amendment again as he breaks it down for us. “We first need to focus on the phrase “the right of the people.” Note that the people are the only ones whose right is secured here, not the militia or a state government. This phrase “the right of the people” comes up a few times in the Constitution. For example, the First Amendment refers to “The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government.” And the Fourth Amendment secures “The right of the people to be secure…against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

“Why, then, if the authors of the Constitution felt so strongly about “the right of the people” to own guns, did they include language about “a well-regulated militia”? These opening words of the amendment might be called a “justification clause.” Such clauses are used to help explain why a right is being secured. But it’s the operative clause that explains what right is being secured. In this case, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. And what was the word ‘militia’ understood to mean at the time?

“Well, the Militia Act of 1792 defined “militia” to mean all white males 18 to 45. Today, of course, “militia” would include women and people of all races, but it was clearly not a reference to a small, National Guard-type group. And what about the part of the amendment that says a militia is necessary “to the security of a free State”? What, the opponents of personal gun ownership ask, does a personal right of gun ownership have to do with that? Again, historical context is key. In the 1790s, the phrase “free State” wasn’t used to mean an individual state like New York or Rhode Island. Rather, it meant what we’d call today a “free country”—a nation free of despotism. A “free State” is what the Framers wanted America to be. They saw an armed citizenry as, in part, a hedge against tyranny. Citizens who own weapons can protect themselves, prevent tyrants from seizing power, and protect the nation from foreign enemies. This does not mean, though, that this right is unlimited. Free speech, for example, has long been subject to some narrow and reasonable regulations. But severe restrictions on owning a gun, like severe restrictions on free speech, would violate the Second Amendment as the Founders understood it.

“Maybe you think this understanding of the Second Amendment is outdated today, that the Constitution needs to change as public attitudes change. The Founders included a provision for doing just that: if the public attitude really has changed, the Constitution can be amended to reflect that change. But, ironically, even if we focus on current public attitudes, the case for individual gun ownership is as strong as ever. Polls consistently show that over two-thirds of Americans believe that the Second Amendment secures the right of citizens to own a gun. And Congress and state governments have repeatedly reaffirmed this view, including in recent decades. So, does the Second Amendment secure an individual right to bear arms? It did when it was written. It has throughout American history. And it does today.”

From this explanation, we see that nothing has changed! We must stand up for our Constitutional rights and keep our allegiance to America as written in our Pledge of Allegiance, “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” What do you think about America ending the UN Arms Trade Treaty? We want to hear from you about this program. Write to us at Friends@VFNKB.com. Greg and John shared in this segment.

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