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The Kansas City Star
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B6, Wednesday, June 20, 2001 |
| AS I SEE IT: The right to bear
arms, the right to be free
By PETE HETTINGER - Special to
The Star During the National Rifle Association's convention in Kansas City recently, the Second Amendment was discussed a lot. I have no objection to people having their own opinions regarding this, or even with people disagreeing with the founders. This school year, however, I was recently taught what the amendment actually is protecting. I have always been a supporter for the right to bear arms. I have listened to the other side's arguments. And when I actually read the amendment for the first time, I had to say that I had a gut feeling that the other side -- gun-control advocates -- was right. Then this last year at college, one of my political science professors taught me something I had never heard. In our federal government there are many checks and balances, as we all know. Hardly anything can even be changed because of all of these checks and balances. The Founding Fathers knew, however, that no matter how great of a system they set up, the government can and has found ways to oppress its citizens. History has shown this to be the case. So what the Second Amendment protects is our right to bear arms. The 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." This amendment was not added to protect people's right to hunt, or to protect themselves against other citizens, but to keep the government in check. It is the last check of all checks and balances in our government. America itself could not have been formed without ordinary citizens having the right to bear arms. Some people might argue that we are past the time for revolution and wars, but if history has taught us anything, it is that history repeats. To think that the United States of America will remain as it is currently, forever, is ignorant. Governments have always found a way to oppress people, and in the past people have not always had the ability to fight that oppression. The founders knew this and that is what they wanted to protect. They wanted to secure the people's ability to protect themselves from the government, or as they put it, "being necessary to the security of a free state ..." Pete Hettinger attends Culver-Stockton College. He lives in Lenexa. |