You have a right to protect yourself, your family, and your neighbors if necessary. Your right to protect yourself and family is not a 2nd amendment right. It is one of the unspecified powers reserved to the people by the 10th amendment. It is a natural right guaranteed to be protected by the Bill of Rights.
So what is the 2nd amendment all about?
The Second Amendment is a statement acknowledging that the states not only have the right to create a militia, the U.S. Constitution creates an expectation that the states will create a militia out of necessity to keep its citizens free. The second amendment is basically a contract between the federal government and the states guaranteeing the right of the states to create a militia – under one condition – the states do not disarm their citizens! They put a restrictive clause in the second amendment because it was well known that, historically, ruling bodies that created standing armies would often disarm their citizens. Then, when their citizens would attempt to lodge a grievance and create dissention in an attempt to have their government address their grievance, those governments would begin to slaughter their own citizens in order to establish ‘peace in the land’. The clause “the right to bear arms shall not be infringed” was put in the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to prevent such slaughters from occurring in the United States.
Now take a look at the 10th amendment. Your ability to protect yourself is one of the unspecified powers reserved to the people. But, you cannot protect yourself if you are denied the ability to respond with equal or greater force than your attacker. The 10th amendment states that the powers not given to the federal government and not restricted to the states by the constitution shall remain with the state, respectively, or with the people. That wording, “not restricted to the states by the constitution” references back to the 2nd amendment that clearly restricts the state from infringing on the people’s right to protect themselves. The 10th amendment references that restriction on the states. Any infringement on the right to bear arms is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Beginning in 1911, with the Sullivan act, and increasingly in recent times, the State of New York has been disregarding the restrictions placed in the U.S. Constitution in the 2nd amendment. Despite the rulings to the contrary by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, there is no doubt in most people’s mind that the Sullivan Act is a blatant infringement on your right to bear arms. It requires New Yorkers to get permission from the state in the form of a license in order to just possess a firearm that could be concealed. That act made criminals out of law-abiding citizens – instantly. Possession became a misdemeanor; carrying such firearms without a permit became a felony. As a result of this law, if a person in New York State desires to carry a pistol to protect themselves and their family they have to first agree that New York State has the right to ignore the 2nd amendment restriction on its powers to disarm its citizens. If you don’t concede to this flagrant breach of the 2nd amendment restriction on the state’s powers, and you possess or carry a weapon small enough to be concealed, you instantly become a criminal. And, even if you never used the weapon in any manner, but just carried the weapon, the law makes you not just a felon, but also a “violent felon”.
New Yorkers who are unwilling to concede this power to the state, and who are also unwilling to become a criminal, are being denied one of the many unspecified 10th amendment powers reserved to the people – the power to defend themselves.
From this perspective, is it not surprising that the primary legislative sponsor of the law, now referred to as the Sullivan Act, was state senator Timothy Sullivan, a notoriously corrupt Tammany Hall politician?
Today, New York State is increasingly removing the rights of people to defend themselves. They are placing an increasing number of laws onto the books concerning the individual’s ability to purchase, own, carry, and use weapons capable of providing one’s self defense. The result is that there is a dramatic increase in the disparity between the state’s armed militia [National Guard, State Troopers, Sheriffs, and Police forces] and the increasingly unarmed populous. If it wasn’t for the institutionalization of tyrannical laws and practices by our governments, this would not be a concern. But considering the numerous acts of tyranny being perpetrated on the citizens of New York State, all being passed off as ‘just good government’, this is alarming. Consider the increased rate of confiscation of not just weapons, but personal possessions without due process, proposed legislation that will deny you the right to face your accuser, the restrictions and loss of property rights of real estate property owners, the increased number of victimless crimes on the books, the enormous prison population in New York State and across the nation, proposed legislation that will allow police to act without a subpoena, the increased restrictions on businesses, … and the propensity for our government to push off all these tyrannical acts as “just your good government in action”. The enforcement and incarceration cost of this ‘good government’ is staggering.
There is something we can do about the tyranny we face, but only if we place in office elected officials that are themselves aware of and concerned about our loss of freedoms. As governor, Larry Sharpe will need Assembly members who are like-minded to help carry out his vision of reducing government and its intrusions into your life and wallet.
Vote for freedom. Vote Libertarian.
(And if you are in the district, vote for Mark Glogowski, Assembly District # 139)