In light of a recent thread it has occurred to me that most of us do not understand the Bill of Rights or the Constitution and thus read it incorrectly.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights have little to nothing to do with the Individual. When reading either don't think what does this mean to me, think what does this mean to the government.
It was necessary to allocate Rights from the Individual to the government so to have a functioning society where the Rights of the Individual were protected. In order to do this the Founders crafted the Constitution where the Rights taken from the Individual and allocated to the government were specifically defined. And in order to prevent government from doing what is natural to it, growing and devouring more power from the Rights of the Individual, checks and balances were put into place.
The Constitution was and is a masterful accomplishment. Even with that being so, Madison's House of Representatives first act was to amend the Constitution. After deep review of the Constitution, they effectively said, "That's all well in good, but hear this." And they amended the Constitution with the Bill of Rights.
Why is that important? Because unless the amendment specifies it does not supercede a clause of the Constitution, it supercedes the entirety of the Constitution.
Therefore the appropriate manner in which to read the 1st and 2nd Amendment is that the government in no uncertain terms does NOT have the Right to regulate speech or firearms.
As we know there are no absolutes. This is why we have to understand the principle Rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence and how the 1st and 2nd fit into it. Speech is a subset of our Right to Liberty and Bearing Arms are subsets of our Right to Life (property) "Arms" and our Right to Liberty "Bearing". We have the Right to say whatever we want up until it violates someone else's Right to Life or directly violates someone else's Right to Liberty (e.g. screaming fire in a crowded theater). It's the same logic for Bearing Arms. However, your Right to your Arms (property), supercedes another's Right to Liberty. I.e. someone can not take them from you.
Thanks for taking the time to consider the perspective from a Mechanical/Systems Engineer based on logic as I understand it.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights have little to nothing to do with the Individual. When reading either don't think what does this mean to me, think what does this mean to the government.
It was necessary to allocate Rights from the Individual to the government so to have a functioning society where the Rights of the Individual were protected. In order to do this the Founders crafted the Constitution where the Rights taken from the Individual and allocated to the government were specifically defined. And in order to prevent government from doing what is natural to it, growing and devouring more power from the Rights of the Individual, checks and balances were put into place.
The Constitution was and is a masterful accomplishment. Even with that being so, Madison's House of Representatives first act was to amend the Constitution. After deep review of the Constitution, they effectively said, "That's all well in good, but hear this." And they amended the Constitution with the Bill of Rights.
Why is that important? Because unless the amendment specifies it does not supercede a clause of the Constitution, it supercedes the entirety of the Constitution.
Therefore the appropriate manner in which to read the 1st and 2nd Amendment is that the government in no uncertain terms does NOT have the Right to regulate speech or firearms.
As we know there are no absolutes. This is why we have to understand the principle Rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence and how the 1st and 2nd fit into it. Speech is a subset of our Right to Liberty and Bearing Arms are subsets of our Right to Life (property) "Arms" and our Right to Liberty "Bearing". We have the Right to say whatever we want up until it violates someone else's Right to Life or directly violates someone else's Right to Liberty (e.g. screaming fire in a crowded theater). It's the same logic for Bearing Arms. However, your Right to your Arms (property), supercedes another's Right to Liberty. I.e. someone can not take them from you.
Thanks for taking the time to consider the perspective from a Mechanical/Systems Engineer based on logic as I understand it.