Reply #32: A Constitutional "Tradition?"

[brolin_1911a1]

12 We recognize that the right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition,
13 and we will preserve Americans’ continued Second Amendment right to own and use
14 firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation,...

To those of us in the US heartland, constitutionally protected rights are more than mere traditions. They are fundamental, unabridgable, unalienable rights.

The phrasing used in this draft immediately raises thoughts of what other Constitutionally-protected rights are mere tradition. The right to peaceful assembly? The right to free speech? Freedom of the press? The need for search warrants? This proposal reads as though the only 2nd Amendment right recognized by the Party leadership is the right to join the military.

In reality, the right to KEEP and bear arms is, as recognized by the Supreme Court during the 1800s, a fundamental right of any free citizen. It is more than a tradition. Rather it is a derivative of the basic right to life. Without means of self defense one cannot maintain one's life. When our Constitution's Bill of Rights was written, the only right with any claim to antiquity at that time was the right to keep and bear arms. The person who wrote that platform language has neither respect nor appreciation for the US Constitution nor the Bill of Rights.