Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc
When you teach history, do you teach that the founders believed that rights are given by their Creator not by the men and documents?
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"
And that the 2nd amendment just instructs the government not to infringe on one of those rights? It does not grant any rights.
"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"
Further, do you teach that removing an unjust government is also a right?
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government,..."
How do unarmed citzens abolish destructive goverments?
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Absolutely we study these documents, and in particular the passages you cite. I would point out that the Declaration of Independence is a statement of beliefs, not a legal document. It said, for instance, that all men were created equal - but the Constitution institutionalized slavery. The Constitution, on the other hand, is a legal document, and the Second Amendment is the law of the land.
I would also point out that the foundation of the Framers' philosophy was based on Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, all of whom stated that men in nature - the individual - were given liberty by the Creator. But they also agreed that men had to sacrifice some of that liberty for the security provided by a society. The 3 disagreed on how much of that liberty had to be sacrificed - in general, the Framers leaned toward Locke and Rousseau, because both reserved the right to replace a government if it no longer served the interests of the governed.
And therein lies the conflict, as you pointed out. There is a point where the liberty to own a gun can intrude on a neighbor's right to life or property. Eliminating all gun ownership certainly inhibits the ability overthrow an unresponsive government. Is there a middle ground?
I teach the debate. I don't teach a viewpoint. Students learn much more when they actually think about what they believe, instead of telling me what they think I want to hear.