The Second Amendment, Life, and Liberty

My Message To the Red Brush Gun Club, Warrick County,

And To All Who Cherish Our Second Amendment

I want you all to know that I appreciate our 2^nd amendment and the right we have as Americans to defend ourselves.  I have a concealed carry permit and take full advantage of that.  Indeed, I consider our second amendment one of our great blessings as citizens.  It is unique to this nation.

I tie it directly to our Declaration of Independence and those words that have come to define our nation and gave birth to it,

“...that we are endowed by our creator with inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...”  The 2^nd amendment is implied in those words.  Life and Liberty and the 2^nd amendment are intimately entwined.  For what good is the right to life and liberty if you cannot defend it against those who would take it from you including criminals, terrorists and a despotic government.

The right to self-defense and to bear arms is a primary, natural right. It coexists equally in importance with the right to life and liberty.  They are necessary complements.  These rights are God-given and inalienable. They are our birthrights and cannot be taken away by man or government.

The Second Amendment is critical to any understanding of the nation and its founding spirit.  It exists because of the value placed by the framers on life and individual sovereignty.  It was also seen as a bulwark against tyranny, of an all-powerful, central government, a grave concern for the founders who had just fought a war against tyranny in the form of the British Crown. 

It is consistent with a society that embraces autonomy and freedom and rejects coercive state power.  History has given us regimes that enjoyed a monopoly on firearms, such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and others, and they have been its most violent and brutal, even genocidal. 

The Second Amendment, as part of our Bill of Rights and Constitution, supersedes legislation, and can only be altered through the laborious amendment process.  Simple majorities and standard legislative practice do not come in to play here.  These rights are inalienable and cannot be taken away or tampered with through simple majorities. 

It is unfortunate that liberals and President Obama use every mass killing as an excuse to attack our 2^nd Amendment and law-abiding citizens – as we saw after the recent terrorist attack in San Bernadino California.  There is no law they could pass that would eliminate those tragic killings.  Indeed, California has the strictest gun laws in the country.   And there is no 2^nd amendment at all in France where horrific mass shootings have occurred.

If liberals were serious about controlling gun violence, they would secure our southern border, stop importing refugees from Syria, stop releasing violent felons and criminal illegal aliens into our streets, or terrorists from Guantanamo.  They would end sanctuary cities. And they would call radical Islamic terror by its name instead of wishing it away.  And they would stop liberal politicians from destroying our inner cities where most gun violence occurs.

I will defend our Constitution and our 2^nd amendment.

I thank God I live in a country where I can protect my loved ones and myself.  Thank You.

Richard Moss MD