http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/articles/2006/07/27/opinion/opinion487.txt

We were taught in school that the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution was pretty much set in stone. But apparently, the U.S. Congress feels it needs to slather some epoxy on top of that stone in an effort to make it more solid.

The Bill of Rights is, if you are rusty on your history, the first 10 amendments to the document that sets the foundation of government in our country.

These were added at the time the Constitution was adopted as a way of cementing some basic principles that extend the public freedoms and confidence the public has in its government.

The First Amendment is among the most sacred, in our book, because it protects personal freedoms including speech, religion, the press, peaceable assembly and the right to ask the government for the right to sue the government.

The Second Amendment is the amendment upon which firearms owners hang their right to bear arms.

Last year, during Hurricane Katrina, some law enforcement officers in the New Orleans area began seizing firearms from law-abiding citizens. Obviously, the move was a violation of the person’s constitutional rights.

Katrina showed us a huge flaw in our system of government: an ignorance of the value of having law-abiding citizens armed to protect their lives and property.

This week the U.S. House, following the lead of the Senate, passed a measure making it illegal for law officers to confiscate firearms during a national disaster or emergency.

It’s one of those well intentioned, but inane laws. We don’t need another law protecting our rights to bear arms. We need better education for law enforcement officers to know and apply the laws of the land already on the books.