Coffee Table Conversations

(A conversation over coffee and a small old text)

“There’s no way it means that.”
“But that’s just what it says.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, look – ‘A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed’- It says it right there.”
“It says that people can carry around guns everywhere?”
“Well not everywhere. I mean it depends, but the point is that we the people have an inherent right to defend ourselves.”
“With guns?”
“Right.”
“I’m not sure it says that. I’m not even sure you can tell what it says – I count two comma splices in that one sentence alone.”
“Funny.”
“No really. I think it’s open to interpretation.”
“What part of ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed’ do you not understand?”
“Ah. See, that’s not the whole text. If it said only that you’d have a point. But what about everything before it – about the well regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state…what does all that mean?”
“It means that in a free country people should be able to defend themselves from all threats.”
“With guns?”
“Yeah.”
“But that’s an assumption.”
“It seems like common sense, how can people be free if they can’t defend their freedom by force if necessary?”
“Right, but then the right to bear arms isn’t an inherent right – it’s more like a tool used to protect our freedom.
“I’m ok with that.”
“So then what happens when the right to bear arms makes us less free?”
“That can't happen. Our Founders explicitly described this right precisely because being able to defend yourself is the foundation of liberty”.
“Maybe our Founders' logic doesn't apply like it did back then.”
“Huh? How do you mean?”
“Well...I don't think they had police departments, the FBI and the 911 hotline back then, did they? It just seems like we now rely on the army and navy to keep us safe from external threats and the police to protect us from domestic threats.”
“Well, the police can't protect us all the time everywhere.”
“True, but that doesn't seem like a good enough reason for a legal universal right to guns for everyone.”
“Well I think it's the only way to guarantee that our country and people remain protected and free.”
“Maybe.”
“Plus, I don't need a reason to justify my rights, the text gives me the right. It says it right there - 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed'...and you can't argue with that.”
“No, apparently not.”