It has been noted that libertarians come in multiple flavors. In the United States one of the broad dichotomies is between First Amendment libertarians and Second Amendment libertarians. For First Amendment libertarians the First Amendment to the Constitution has primacy; for Second Amendment libertarians, it’s the Second Amendment.
The latter category shouldn’t be dismissed as “gun nuts” any more than the former as “speech nuts”. They have a legitimate point of view, they’re serious, and at least for the time being they have the law on their side.
Every week the Watcher’s Council posts a forum in which the members weigh in on some single question or issue. This week the question is whether the Second Amendment needs to be strengthened. I’m not a Second Amendment libertarian and the question is not of vital interest to me; I didn’t participate in the forum this week.
However, you can see what other Council members had to say by checking out the Forum on the Watcher’s site.
The 2 things they won’t compromise on are gun rights and the safety of Israel. Sad.
Steve
I’ve not ever been persuaded that the Second Amendment was intended to create an individual right, so for rats like me, they may want to amend the Constitution to eliminate the “militia” clause. Also, the Heller case permitted reasonable state regulation, so either 2nd Amendment enthusiasts will need to amend to create some higher threshold, or simply accept that policy will change from state to state.
Not much participation in that forum.
I’m pretty much against any fiddling with the Constitution itself – that would be a Pandora’s box. However, I don’t really see the 2nd Amendment under serious threat at present.