The newspapers reported, a few weeks ago, that a cross-section of Americans was given a quiz about the Constitution and of course, we failed miserably. On one particular point of ignorance, only six percent of those polled could name the four freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. I’ll give you a second if you want to quiz yourself… Did you name them? They are: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly. They’re listed in the First Amendment.
One American who would have answered the question correctly is Charlton Heston, who rattled them off recently during a speech at the National Press Club. Mr. Heston, when he’s not out pretending to be Moses, is a vice-president of the National Rifle Association. Although he can name the four freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, Mr. Heston said the right to keep and bear arms, which is found in the Second Amendment, is the “most vital” of the rights granted by the Constitution. Mr. Heston said, “… it is the first among equals. It alone offers the absolute capacity to live without fear. The right to keep and bear arms is the one right that allows rights to exist at all.”
This raises, in my mind at least, a question for Constitutional scholars: If Charlton Heston shoots his mouth off, is it covered by the First Amendment or the Second?
What’s disturbing about Mr. Heston’s speech is not his opinion – after all, freedom of speech means freedom to make stupid speeches – but that there may actually be a substantial constituency out there that agrees. If the right to keep and bear arms is the one right that allows rights to exist, then we are indeed in trouble and no amount of guns and ammunition will save us. The rights and freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution are ensured not by firepower but by the common consent of our fellow citizens.
Let’s revisit Mr. Heston’s assertion that the Second Amendment alone offers the capacity to live without fear. The United States is home to some of the most dangerous cities in the world. People walking down the street in Toronto, Tokyo and Amsterdam, I think, have greater capacity to live without fear than we, and it is precisely because the wackos in those cities don’t have easy access to the firepower our wackos enjoy.
I wish I’d been at the National Press Club to see Charlton Heston deliver his speech. It must have looked like something from “King Lear,” or maybe the Nixon administration. The old lion up there, swaying, gripping the sides of the podium, declaiming against demons only he can see, cooling his paranoid fevers with the steel of a Smith and Wesson held against his brow. Perhaps he was Moses again, coming down the mountain with a new commandment: “I am the Lord thy Gun, thou shalt have no false guns before me.”
I encourage Mr. Heston to continue pursuing his Constitutionally-guaranteed rights – to speak, to publish, to profess religion and assemble. Those are the freedoms our nation was built on, and no one ever shot their foot off using them.
Shooting My Mouth Off
The newspapers reported, a few weeks ago, that a cross-section of Americans was given a quiz about the Constitution and of course, we failed miserably. On one particular point of ignorance, only six percent of those polled could name the four freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. I’ll give you a second if you want to quiz yourself… Did you name them? They are: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly. They’re listed in the First Amendment.
One American who would have answered the question correctly is Charlton Heston, who rattled them off recently during a speech at the National Press Club. Mr. Heston, when he’s not out pretending to be Moses, is a vice-president of the National Rifle Association. Although he can name the four freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, Mr. Heston said the right to keep and bear arms, which is found in the Second Amendment, is the “most vital” of the rights granted by the Constitution. Mr. Heston said, “… it is the first among equals. It alone offers the absolute capacity to live without fear. The right to keep and bear arms is the one right that allows rights to exist at all.”
This raises, in my mind at least, a question for Constitutional scholars: If Charlton Heston shoots his mouth off, is it covered by the First Amendment or the Second?
What’s disturbing about Mr. Heston’s speech is not his opinion – after all, freedom of speech means freedom to make stupid speeches – but that there may actually be a substantial constituency out there that agrees. If the right to keep and bear arms is the one right that allows rights to exist, then we are indeed in trouble and no amount of guns and ammunition will save us. The rights and freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution are ensured not by firepower but by the common consent of our fellow citizens.
Let’s revisit Mr. Heston’s assertion that the Second Amendment alone offers the capacity to live without fear. The United States is home to some of the most dangerous cities in the world. People walking down the street in Toronto, Tokyo and Amsterdam, I think, have greater capacity to live without fear than we, and it is precisely because the wackos in those cities don’t have easy access to the firepower our wackos enjoy.
I wish I’d been at the National Press Club to see Charlton Heston deliver his speech. It must have looked like something from “King Lear,” or maybe the Nixon administration. The old lion up there, swaying, gripping the sides of the podium, declaiming against demons only he can see, cooling his paranoid fevers with the steel of a Smith and Wesson held against his brow. Perhaps he was Moses again, coming down the mountain with a new commandment: “I am the Lord thy Gun, thou shalt have no false guns before me.”
I encourage Mr. Heston to continue pursuing his Constitutionally-guaranteed rights – to speak, to publish, to profess religion and assemble. Those are the freedoms our nation was built on, and no one ever shot their foot off using them.