I find it interesting that first fetuses, then corporations and now guns have more rights than a grown woman.
Constitutionally, fetuses have no rights because they are not born:
1: All persons BORN or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State
shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges
or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. (14th Amendment Section 1)
The
same is true of corporations. They are not persons born or naturalized.
Women, however, are clearly fully autonomous human beings and if they
are born or naturalized they are citizens of the United States, with all
the rights that brings.
Guns are another issue. 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."
In order to rightly interpret this amendment
one must look at the entire context of the word "militia" in the
Constitution. Every where it appears, "militia" refers to an
established, government regulated civilian force. The closest equivalent
we have would be the National Guard, NOT the anti-government
para-military variety found across the country.
Article 1 Section 8: (The duties of Congress)
15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the
Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the
Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed
in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States
respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority
of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by
Congress;
Clearly, the militias referred to in
the second amendment are these, the ones established and regulated by
Congress. The right to bear arms, then, belongs to those who are members
of the regular militias.
The framers of the Constitution
clearly never intended for fetuses to have rights that supersede their
mothers, nor every one to run around with semi-automatic weapons or for
corporations to be people. The Constitution was based on something rare
these days: common sense. It is based on the premise that fully
autonomous human beings born in the United States or naturalized are
citizens with all the rights and privileges therein. It is also based
upon the premise that militias are formed and regulated by Congress.
It would promote anarchy if it was set up any other way. Indeed, that
is precisely where we are headed if rule of law is not applied to the
ownership of guns and they are not fully regulated by Congress. To the NRA I would say, "Get over it! Guns are not God, guns do not supplant the right to the life and liberty of fully autonomous human beings "
I
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