QUORA: ‘Where in the U.S. constitution does it say the word 'guns', let alone that you can own them?’
I submitted this answer:
It doesn’t, on either count. Therefore, the government has no enumerated power to ban private, law abiding citizens from owning them.
I don’t know if the question implies a point beyond a simple request for information. But I imagine the question is inspired by Justice Sam Alito’s horrifically wrong justification for overturning Roe—that the word “abortion” does not appear, nor is it implied, in the Constitution and is therefore not a right protected by the Constitution. That is completely wrongheaded. The Ninth Amendment reads, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” The Constitution, drawing its philosophic basis from the Declaration of Independence, is congruent with an original Presumption of Liberty. Rights define the scope and boundaries of liberty. Under a proper understanding of rights as objective, individual, universal, and inalienable, both abortion and gun ownership are rights retained by the people.
The U.S. Constitution is not fundamentally an enumeration of individual rights. The rights enumerated in the first eight Amendments is not exhaustive. Rights not mentioned are rights “retained by the people,” unless explicitly forbidden or restricted. The Constitution is an enumeration of powers granted to the government. Since the Constitution does not explicitly empower the government to ban gun ownership, the right to own a gun is “retained by the people.” To repeat, the government has no enumerated power to ban private, law abiding citizens from owning guns.
Related Reading:
In SCOTUS’ Draft Opinion Overturning Roe Abortion Ruling: Double Standards of Left and Right Exposed
On This Constitution Day, Remember the Declaration of Independence
Answering QUORA Questions About the Second Amendment
My comment on David Johnson’s answer to QUORA: ‘Which amendment gives U.S. citizens the right to bear arms?’
Burden of Proof is On Government in Concealed Carry Case
Gun Control Should focus On Principles, Not Guns
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