Constitutional rights and powers – and penalties?

Some yahoo asked a question the other day: “Where in the US Constitution is gun ownership a protected right? I can’t find it.

Silly claims aside, let us see at least one answer to that question.

Let us compare this to another claim about the US Constitution: Where in the Constitution does it say there must be a separation of church and state? I can’t find it. Oh, wait, that’s right. It’s not there. It says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” That means, at the very least, that the FedGov cannot restrict anyone’s ability to practice their religion.

Is it not perfectly clear (from the writings of the Founding Fathers) that the intent of this clause was to prevent the government from intruding on people’s religious freedoms?

Yet somehow it’s been translated into “no one can do anything even remotely religious anywhere near a government facility.” (Which of course, includes “public” (government-run, tax-funded) schools. In fact, the modern interpretation of this clause is the exact opposite if what was intended. It limits individual religious expression, not just by government employees but by those dealing with or under the dictates of those employees.

To put it baldly, preventing people from praying in school or in (or around) government buildings is blatantly unconstitutional. Blatantly. Even more so when governments force “safe zones” around privately-owned and -operated facilities. Like abortion clinics. Or mosques. Or even meetinghouses of believers in Christ as Lord.

So…

The twisting of the clear written words of the US Constitution regarding our “right to keep and bear arms” is pretty much the same thing. If you’re looking for a misinterpretation or misuse of the words in the Constitution, look no further than this.

You’re not going to find “gun ownership is protected” in the Second Amendment. But what does “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” mean? Keeping means not just owning them, but controlling the “Arms.” And “Arms” includes not only guns and swords (and knives and spears and even whips and explosive devices.” When it comes to gun ownership, the Constitution could hardly be any more clear. No room for interpretation.

Yet, as with the First Amendment, we have let tyrants, parasites, politicians, unelected bureaucrats, and “interested parties” twist and ignore the clear meaning.

Why?

The easy answer is to say, “because we are stupid.” But then, that’s a pretty generic answer. After all, all humans (except One) are stupid now and then. And some are stupid almost all the time. What level of stupidity? To quote Ben Franklin, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”  (Sometimes it is “security” and not “safety.” – Close enough for anti-government work, folks.)

People are afraid of guns – and all the other arms that men have invented over the years. Deathly afraid. For various reasons. Many (or so we believe) are afraid because they project: they believe that other people are going to use the weapons to attack them – because they would do that themselves. Many, many more are afraid because they have been taught since infancy – and especially in those GRTF schools – to fear guns and fear people who have guns. (Yup, even cops – fear and obey.)

Of course, as Boston T. Party and L. Neil Smith pointed out long ago – and repeatedly – while the Constitution (precisely, the Bill of Rights) enshrines the right, at least as far as Congress is concerned, there is no mechanism for actually enforcing that right. There is no clear or implied penalty for violating those rights.

Enforcement, of course, means punishing those who seek to take that right away – or deny such a right exists. So we worship (as Boston said) a hologram of liberty: a chimera. A Potemkin village, a false front. Because year after year, various States and Congress pass laws which do infringe on our right (your right and my right) to keep and bear arms. To own guns.

Which is what we have been seeing in the past couple of decades regarding such things as free speech and freedom of religion. People fear free speech because (a) they project onto other people how they themselves “misuse” those liberties, and (b) they are taught from a very early age to fear those rights, and the people who exercise them without “properly” showing deference and subjection to hurt feelings.

Once again, what modes of enforcement of those God-given rights do we have? In the Constitution, and in State Constitutions, none. Nada, zip.

No mechanism provided. But ultimately justice – not what is claimed to be justice in the States today, but real justice – will be done. The only question is how much bloodshed will it take.

But that is a topic for another time.

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Source: https://freedombunker.com/2025/04/07/constitutional-rights-and-powers-and-penalties/