Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Civil Rights

Kim DuToit has a lovely little angry rant about the Illinois anti-liberty activist who was recently arested for having a firearm without a license. In illinois this is a felony (you must have an FOID card), complicated in this case, because the firearm was illegally modified by having the serial numbers filed out. Best of all; the weapon is also believed to be stolen.

Anyway, it is indeed a great rant, but I wanted to highlight something specifically. In one of the quoted responses to this story Alan Gotlieb had this to say:



More in the extended entry...


"Annette Stevens may now understand why so many law-abiding people are fed up with the kind of gun laws that are promoted by the Million Mom March and other extremist gun control organizations. Ironically, the law against filing serial numbers off firearms is one that gun rights activists and organizations have long supported. Yet here she is, this ‘poster mom’ for gun control, acknowledging that she has kept an illegally-altered handgun in her home while she’s been campaigning to deprive other citizens of their firearms.

“In the kind of Draconian anti-gun society Stevens and her cohorts are trying to create, it wouldn’t matter if she were innocent as she claims. Under the laws her group supports, gun owners are essentially considered guilty until they prove themselves otherwise. That’s everything from background checks to waiting periods, and certainly the Illinois requirement that gun owners have a Firearms Owners Identification Card. Stevens has no FOID card, so there’s another gun law violation. There are thousands of local and state laws across the country that the Million Moms support, none of which have done anything to prevent a single crime. All they do is chip away at the gun rights of law-abiding citizens.

“If Stevens is so convinced guns don’t belong in society, then why didn’t she immediately turn that gun over to the police when she found it more than two years ago? Why did she keep it? What’s wrong with this picture? Ms. Stevens is about to learn that supporting gun control is like keeping a vicious dog. They sometimes bite the hands that feed them."

I have only one problem with Mr. Gottleib’s statement, and the statements that a lot of folks make about rights, especially when it comes to guns.

"There are thousands of local and state laws across the country that the Million Moms support, none of which have done anything to prevent a single crime. All they do is chip away at the gun rights of law-abiding citizens."

What they chip away at are not just gun rights, because gun rights are civil rights, and ultimately human rights.

The right to defend ones self is inherent to the nature of man, and can never be removed except by force or willing consent. By acceding that gun rights are separate from civil rights, we allow those gun haters who would trespass on our liberty to obscure this.