Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791
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. |
As is evident from any number of new reports, there is considerable controversy about this topic. It is essential to the notion of freedom in our country that we not live in fear of our government. In 1791 I guess armed force was the concern.
I want to suggest another aspect of this principle.
Had the present-day tax authorities and tax collection practices been in-place, I think the focus of attention would have been far broader than just giving citizens the right to bear arms.
The government has considerable ability to take unreasonable unilateral control over the citizenry. It don't necessarily use gun-toting force, the tax policies work well enough.
It seems that governments have unlimited power to extract any taxes the government decides a citizen "owes".
The traditional notion of "due-process" does not seem to apply.
Although I have no serious opinion about the reasonableness of the controversy about gun ownership and gun control, I do think we have a far more serious threat to our freedom.
| |
