I know Joe Biden has dementia. I know he is incapacitated. Maybe that explains something he said today that makes NO sense to me.
While talking about his new Executive Order about guns, Joe decided to recite a bit of verbal garbage that is not only untrue but misleading. He said that none of the Amendments to the Constitution “were absolute.” Then, he used that ridiculous argument about the First Amendment and how it doesn’t cover someone shouting “fire” in a movie theater. I’ve heard that hackneyed bit of nonsense since I was in grade school. Problem is, most people misuse it, just like good old Joe did.
See, the First Amendment prevents the government from preventing you from speaking. There is no exception, but SOME speech is seen by the courts as protected and some is not. Most speech is protected UNLESS it causes or incites harm to others. That’s where the “yelling fire” example applies. Free speech IS absolute. Causing harm to someone or slandering/liableing them with your words, is not. And all of these unprotected instances of speech have been decided by the Supreme Court, not one individual carrying out the political agenda of his party.
The Second Amendment is also absolute. Citizens have the right to keep and bear arms. There is NO example in the Constitution that denies that right. Unlike the First Amendment, the Second Amendment has had NO Supreme Court decisions that limited this right. In D.C. v. Heller and Mcdonald v. Chicago, the Court voted down restrictions of the Second Amendment. And although the Court discussed different reasons why guns would be restricted or areas where guns should be restricted, they made NO decision in these areas. Basically, the only restrictions in gun rights have been made by Executive Orders or votes from Congress. And even those, which basically cover certain guns or gun accessories, are disputed by gun rights advocates.
There is the issue of states declaring their own restrictions on gun rights, such as Maryland which allows handgun ownership in one’s homes only unless a person has a carry permit. But, as stated by Charles Cooke in his article in National Review, “The Bill of Rights Doesn’t Have to be Absolute to Have Teeth,” April 8, 2021, “Invariably, people who say a ‘right isn’t absolute’ are not trying to determine the proper scope the the right so much as they are trying to skip a step by implying that if some regulation is permissable, ALL regulation is permissable. ”
That idea and what Joe said is wrong. Not only is it wrong, it is dangerous. A President who thinks the Constitution and its Amendments are not absolute is a President who is inclined to systematically remove those rights to suit his authority. As they say, “A tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.”
We have seen, Mr. Biden and his regime/ party are constantly floating suggestions of getting rid of the rights protecting unlawful search and seizure, privacy, the judicial process, etc. What if Joe and the Democrats decide that any one of the amendments isn’t “absolute” and should be virtually and unilaterally eliminated? Imagine a President Harris ( you know its coming) deciding that the property of white homeowners must be forfeited to provide reparations for the descendants of slaves? Or homes for illegals? Think it’s out of the question? Okay. I’ll bet you never thought anyone would propose a “passport” being required for you to shop, go out to dinner, etc. or that requiring an I.D. for voting would be racist either.
Rights are rights. At no time should they be limited or restricted. Instead of taking the approach of debating the “absoluteness” of rights or trying to find ways to deny them, it seems to me that a government’s time might be better spent prosecuting the crimes committed with guns. Crimes such as murder, assault, robbery, etc. That will be the real deterrent. Restricting the rights of law abiding citizens will not.
So, Mr. Biden, let me give you one absolute. You are absolutely an illegitimate and incompetent occupant of the office you have assumed. I am absolutely sure of that.
