The Constitution. A wonderful document our founding fathers created in order to protect the American people from the government. It was put in place so that Americans had rights and protection and were able to have freedoms not allowed before.
The most considerable of the Constitution was the Bill of Rights. These ten amendments gave people freedom of speech, press, and the right to bear arms.
In today’s society, these rights, most importantly the freedom of press and the right to bear arms, are abused in order to protect people from themselves.
After the recent group of shootings at movie theaters and schools across the U.S., President Obama has begun introducing plans to help with gun control.
While I agree with a few of the President’s ideas, I don’t believe that restricting so much is going to help. Those who are determined to kill are going to kill.
Guns can still be purchased illegally and will continue to be, despite any new rules. But having the right to own a gun, does not give anyone the right to shoot at innocent people.
Recently, a newspaper in New York City published a 446-page list of every registered gun owner and their addresses. I find this utterly disturbing.
While the information was available to the public and we as Americans do have the right to publish such information, I find that there was absolutely no need to do so.
Not only does this allow criminals to see which homeowners do not own a gun and where they live, but it also puts the lives of every citizen, police officer, and judge in jeopardy. Those who do not own a gun are now likely to become targets of victimization.
Just because we are given these rights, does not mean we are allowed to abuse them and do whatever floats our boat, using the rights as an excuse. Because of this New York City newspaper’s blatant disregard for the safety of innocent citizens, millions of criminals now have the information to personally attack people.
Having rights and personal freedoms does not mean that we are allowed to bend these rights and to mistreat this independence given to us by our founding fathers.
