Who, me?

[Highwayman]

Lady Liberty doesn't support the Second Amendment!

By Lady Liberty

I've received emails on this topic ever since I started commenting on stories about Concealed Carry Weapons legislation in the various states. The problem? I'm not a fan of such laws. Saying so has apparently upset some gun rights advocates enough that they don't go on to see what I say with the very next breath, and that is this: We already have a CCW law in every state, and it's called "the Second Amendment."

My point is a relatively simple one. States that pass CCW laws require that applicants jump through a variety of hoops. They must provide all sorts of information about themselves (often including fingerprints). They must undergo background checks. They must take training and pass tests. Then and only then are they given a license that says they can arm themselves. Please don't think that this means I consider training a bad idea. It's the licensing itself I consider wrong at best, and a real danger to freedom.

When we get a permit or a license to do something, by definition that permit can be revoked by the state. It may or may not need cause to do so; it may or may not manufacture that needed cause at a later date. In the interim, those who are licensed now have information about themselves and their firearms neatly and irrevocably stored in a government database which may or may not be misused or hacked. You'll forgive me if I disagree that an unalinable right can ever be "licensed," and for thinking that those who seek a permit for such are the ones who are giving up their rights.

The truth is that my support of the Second Amendment is unequivocal. Unfortunately, even those labeled gun rights supporters are often more lenient in their own advocacy than I am. The only CCW laws I freely support are those in Alaska and Vermont. In those states, the one requirement for carrying concealed is that you want to. Now that, my friends, is the Second Amendment as it was intended!

Unfortunately, so much of the Second Amendment has already been taken from us that we find ourselves in a place where even gun advocacy groups call the return of firearms to New Orleans residents "good news." Lest you think I'm anti-gun after all, remember just what's involved in the return of these unlawfully stolen guns (taken by police from law abiding citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina): Citizens must go to either the police or other law enforcement agency (it depends on who stole the weapons in the first place) and ask for the guns back. They must then prove ownership and undergo a background check.

"Proof of ownership" requires registration numbers, purchase papers, or the like. How, if your home was damaged in Katrina flooding, should you present such papers? Could you "prove" you owned (on paper) the gun your grandfather gave you when you started hunting at the age of 12? And if you do prove legal ownership, why should you be forced to endure a background check (for many, the second time they've been so humiliated for the same gun)? This is not good news. It's more government piled on top of already onerous regulations.

Unsupportive of the Second Amendment? Only if intolerance of infringement makes me so!

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