A speech given at the NRA Leadership Forum in April, 2012

Never gets old. Newt Gingrich is an excellent historian and speaker (and was a pretty good Speaker of the House, too).

flashguy

This is why I say free men are oppressed by the ignorance of tyrants and mobs.

That was excellent. His historical knowledge and his ability to disseminate that knowledge is amazing.

I hope I live long enough to see the day come when the SCOTUS 'has' to finally take up and define what "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" means". Should make for great fun watching cowards like John Roberts pee themselves and squirm over the issue. But in the end, we'll know for certain if the English language really means anything definite, and whether the founders protections for all people will be jettisoned once and for all or upheld.

Excellent!!!

Land of the free. I hope it stays this way.

I dont believe we ever hear words of Our history spoken by the left side of DC. Perhaps such acknowledgment of America should be a measure of who We give the leadership roles in Government to. Really enjoyed learning more from this.

Gingrich touches on something many, many people fail to understand about the Second Amendment- it's in the wording of the amendment itself. The Second Amendment does not say, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the people shall be granted the right keep and bear arms." Instead, it says "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." This means that the Second Amendment acknowledges the right to keep and bear arms as an existing right. The Second Amendment merely affirms the existence of this right. The right to keep and bear arms is one of the "unalieneable rights" alluded to in the Declaration of Independence- "...that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights".
The Declaration of Independence enumerates certain rights- "...among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," but these three rights are not the only ones. The right to keep and bear arms is one of these "unalienable rights" because the keeping and bearing of arms protects the life and liberty of the people.

The bill of rights is not taught enough anymore, therefore many don't understand its importance. This is truly sad.

Outstanding.

I'll drop a question here and check back tomorrow evening for others perspectives. Twice, Newt stated the 2nd is a "political right". What did he mean by this ? Also, his reference to "Shall not be abridged" is different to my ears than infringed. Any reason why he stated this? I've heard this many times in my life. Thanks and good night.

Brilliant!

Excellent video, if the year was not mentioned I would think it was current.

quote:

This means that the Second Amendment acknowledges the right to keep and bear arms as an existing right. The Second Amendment merely affirms the existence of this right.

Absolutely THIS .
Even if the 2A was repealed by a new amendment, we still have the right. It was granted by our creator, NOT some politicians.
The BOR doesn’t grant anything. It supposed to put the brakes on govt intervention messing with the very rights we all have from birth.

quote:

Originally posted by coloradohunter44:
The bill of rights is not taught enough anymore, therefore many don't understand its importance. This is truly sad.

It's not the only thing that is not taught enough. How many schools still teach Civics--how our government is supposed to work--or American History--going back more than a decade?

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by coloradohunter44:
The bill of rights is not taught enough anymore, therefore many don't understand its importance. This is truly sad.

It's not the only thing that is not taught enough. How many schools still teach Civics--how our government is supposed to work--or American History--going back more than a decade?

flashguy

Given a majority of high school students can't even read or do math at grade level, I would submit public schools teach students nothing of any real value anymore.

Ronald Reagan, 1983:

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:

quote:

This means that the Second Amendment acknowledges the right to keep and bear arms as an existing right. The Second Amendment merely affirms the existence of this right.

Absolutely THIS .
Even if the 2A was repealed by a new amendment, we still have the right. It was granted by our creator, NOT some politicians.
The BOR doesn’t grant anything. It supposed to put the brakes on govt intervention messing with the very rights we all have from birth.

Further to this point, many of the framers objected to including the bill of rights in the Constitution because they believed it was redundant - the Constitution did not permit Congress to regulate speech, or the exercise of religion, keeping arms, etc.— so there was no need to articulate those limitations. The evolution of that idea into the false one referred to above - that government is the source of rights and has the power to infringe them - is an object lesson in the growth of a leviathan bureaucracy that was never intended to exist.

Given the discussion in this thread about 2A rights being unalienable and coming from our creator, not government, I offer this article from USA Today describing the upcoming SCOTUS review of the New York case. I couldn't even get past the phrasing in the title. Either US Today doesn't grasp the truth of the BOR or they are blatantly lying in pursuit of an agenda. Have a read and see what you think.

Supreme Court may expand Second Amendment rights despite repeal of disputed gun restrictions

Excerpt...

If conservatives have their way, the court could extend Second Amendment rights beyond the home, or simply require that lower court judges demand more specific justifications for state and local restrictions.

This statement is horribly wrong on so many fronts. Yea, the signers of the Constitution absolutely believed that citizens should have no rights to keep and bear arms 'outside' of their homes. Wow, just wow.