Guns or Privacy? (6/4/02)

by Dean Hartwell

Second Amendment to United States Constitution

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.

Fourth Amendment to United States Constitution

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

If one asked a gun owner why he or she thinks they have the right to own a gun, they invariably will point to the Second Amendment's wording of "the right to bear arms."

If one took it a step further and asked them if they have a problem with having to obtain a license to buy a gun, including submitting to a background check and demonstrating knowledge of gun safety, many balk. "That's an infringement on my 2d Amendment rights!"

Scholars have debated the Second Amendment for many years, with some arguing that it guarantees the right to a gun individually. Others have cited a 1939 Supreme Court decision, United States v. Miller, which held that the right to own a gun only applies to the right of the state to maintain a militia (i.e. the National Guard).

With no individual constitutional right, the federal government (and the states, which are not affected by the 2nd Amendment) has thus been able to impose regulations on firearms. But that may change as the Bush Administration Justice Department recently wrote a memo to the Supreme Court detailing its position that individuals have the constitutional right to own guns. This interpretation thus upholds the right of the individual over the government.

Fast forward to the Fourth Amendment.

It would make sense if the Bush Administration upheld the right of the individual over the government in regards to this Amendment. If read literally, it forbids searches and seizures without warrants, practices that this Administration supports. Such an interpretation would also forbid the government to walk into a private area, like one’s church or synagogue or mosque, and eavesdrop on conversations there without probable cause.

But that is precisely what the Justice Department recently set forth in guidelines for FBI agents. In doing so, it overturned rules in place since the 1970s to prevent the FBI from committing the sort of privacy abuses it inflicted upon Martin Luther King, Jr. and others.

President Bush campaigned with the slogan "I trust the people." The problem is that he lacks consistency. With these policies, the Bush Administration trusts the people with guns on the one hand, but on the other, it shows no trust in people to hold conversations in places of worship. At the rate this Administration is going, we may have to use guns to enforce our privacy.

 

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