Comments for Gun Control, Court Control at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 9 out of 9 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:50:11 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15608 What is most curious is no one is proposing to repeal the 2nd amendment or replace it with a rewritten version. Gee, 50 years ago, proposed constitutional amendments were a dime a dozen. Today, we just want to junk the constitution and go for a king/dictator/ruler. - Mr. Bentham Sat, 02 Feb 2013 17:24:42 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15586 @gian The historical facts from quotations by the Founders just don't agree with your position. - Frank Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:04:19 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15585 The view that the 2nd Amendment was intended as a check on the State tyranny is absolutely false, though entrenched, espcially on the Right. That widespread gun ownership does not serve as an effective check on state tyranny, we easily see from current news itself. The rampant state intrusion into schools, endless regulations into each and every niche of life, even the Catholic Church has come close to being outlawed and where is the resistance to this enchroaching tyranny by gunowners? Not even a faintest glimmer of resistance do we see. The only tyrannical state action the gunowners will oppose is the Govt taking away their guns. So the Govt will not take away their guns but tyranny in all other parts would be imposed just as well. The 2nd amendment is actually intended for the national defense actually, the standing armies being not envisaged in 18C. In any case, in a Republic, domestic tyranny is opposed by political arguments, political means. To oppose State by insurrection is always extra-constititional and it can not be granted in a Constitution. - Gian Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:47:09 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15582 "The virtues needed in a democratic republic are, like all virtues, of the sort that, if you lose the habit, they’re hard to get back. And authority is certainly the sort of thing that, once you’ve ceded it away to others, is nearly impossible to get back." In the same vein, to cede and confer upon any government the unquestioned monopoly of lethal violence is the day we go from a governed people governed through our consent to a ruled people. In essence we become serfs. The Second Amendment IS NOT, I repeat NOT about hunting. It is about the final say of the citizenry to check and hold a government accountable and that same government, OUR government acts within the scope and boundaries of the United States Constitution. The litmus test of bad behavior is not subjective for when we see such things as rights abused and craven authority exercised leading to incarceration and murder against the due processes specified, we will know. And for the record, an armed citizenry of 80 million in possession of 80 million firearms is in no need of fighter jets, tanks, or heaven forbid, nuclear weapons. But let it be a warning to a government using said weapons against their people for once they do, they have lost their legitimacy to govern and those who sanction their uses are now war criminals. It is not the President, The Congress, or the Courts. "Here," said Alexander Hamilton, "The people rule!" - Frank Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:39:18 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15580 It all boils down to virtue. A virtuous populous actually learns about the issues of the day, and votes for virtuous statesmen, who legislate and execute in a virtuous manner, and appoint virtuous judges to adjudicate wisely and justly. Where does virtue come from? The big seven (faith, hope, love, prudence, courage, justice, moderation) come from God. A population that is religious in the Judeo-Christian tradition (i.e., balancing faith and reason) will be virtuous. A population that indulges in adolescent self-centeredness and gives in to its basest desires will eventually become vicious, and such a population needs to have a strongman (or nine unelected strongmen) to keep order. If we want to change the nation and build a culture of life, we need to build virtue in the populous. - athanasius Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:02:19 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15579 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils." -- Luke 11:21-22 - Grump Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:17:44 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15578 Mr. Smith, without mentioning it you have made a good case for the 10 th Amendment. - Ray Hunkins Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:42:53 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15577 As family is formed by the complementarity of the male and the female, the State is formed by the complementarity of the ruling and the ruled elements. The ruling element is the mind, i.e. the people whose thinking counts, the eminent men that order a state. All the rest, the non-elite, the ordinaries belong to the ruled element. In a republic, of course, people rule and are ruled in turns. But in practise, most of us forever remain the ruled and never the ruling. Still, to participate in public discussions gives one a modicum or simulacrum of being in the ruling element. - Gian Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:15:31 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/gun-control-court-control.html#comment-15576 Randall Smith channels Robert Bork. - diaperman Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:09:04 +0100