Penny Dean and Your Rights

That may have been an oversimplification, of course. But the headline caption on the New York Times may have summarized it best.

<blockquote>"The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Second Amendment, which forbids Congress from infringing the right to keep and bear arms, applies to state and local governments as well."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/29scotus.html
</blockquote>

The Bill of Rights is a list of some of the things that the Federal Government is forbidden from doing.

It does not grant rights to us. We already have those rights.

In some parts of the country, it appears that home invasions are a problem that is getting worse. From our friends at The Examiner:

<blockquote>Saturday morning in Gatlinburg, a homeowner was shot in the leg by home invaders.

The invaders were armed with semiautomatic handguns, according to WATE in Knoxville, and the suspects made off with the victiim's car, a 2003 Olds sedan, with a Tennessee tag:

824 WTT (If you see this car, call 911)

Home invaders don't call ahead, so it is your responsibility to be prepared when they come calling.

There is a buzz in the internet about a video that seems to show a man at a so-called Tea Party rally, who is holding nothing more than a bull horn, getting assaulted by a man who seems to disagree with what he is saying. The video shows the first man being punched in the face by the second man. The first man, standing with his wife and child, does not return the blows, but instead, the crowd yells for police assistance. This police assistance is not forthcoming by the end of the video. You can <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91KiD71taJs">watch the video here</a>.

<blockquote>
GUN-LOVERS DE-LITTER SHOOTING AREA

Tyler Visser of Bellingham wrote to tell me about a volunteer cleanup operation held May 15 at the North Fork gravel pit just east of Deming.

Members of opencarry.org, a Second Amendment group, picked up trash and targets at the local shooting area. They coordinated the effort with the state Department of Natural Resources and Project Wilderness from Bend, Ore.

There were a few weekend shooters at the pit when the volunteers arrived, and Tyler says they pitched in to help with the cleanup.

DOJ and FBI have released their statistics for violent crime.

<blockquote>"There are more guns in private hands than ever before, yet crime rates have declined…this means that gun prohibitionists have been consistently wrong," said CCRKBA chairman Alan Gottlieb.

He added that these data suggest that "America should turn its back on the gun prohibition lobby and their insidious policy of victim disarmament."</blockquote>

There is a lot of talk about how the Second Amendment might or might not be referring to a militia. From there, the discussion may go towards what the word "militia" meant then, or now, or whether the first part of the amendment affects the second part, and other issues not related to human rights.

How about this one: let's use the same standard, whatever that might be, to compare it to the amendment right next to it.

Since I get to go first, I will pick the First Amendment.

There is a story from the Chicago Breaking News Center ( thanks http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com ) about someone who was arrested after the following alleged events:

<ul>
<li>Assaulted a man on a street corner</li>
<li>Kidnapped at gunpoint</li>
<li>Taken to the person's home and performed a home invasion</li>
<li>Kidnapped man's wife</li>
<li>Robbed man and his wife at gunpoint</li>
<li>Forced to go to check cashing center at gunpoint</li>
<li>Assaulted police officer using gun as club, battery against officer during arrest</li>

From the LA Gun Rights Examiner:

You may have heard of the gun owners who were ambushed by their hosting hotel during their NRA and Gala For Gun Rights convention in North Carolina.

Millions of gun owners out of 90 million gun owners already refuse to give their business to various companies in protest of their being against our second amendment rights. Not revenge, but survival. After all, the armed citizen is the law of the land: gun control opposes this; who is the aggressor here? Spiteful attitudes and erroneous notions can threaten freedom itself. The countermeasure is education.

This is good news, for sure, but I wonder about the choice of words used in the story.

<blockquote>PHOENIX — Favoring the constitutional right to bear arms over others' concerns about gun safety, Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill making Arizona the third state allowing people to carry a concealed weapon without requiring a permit.

The measure takes effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, which likely puts the effective date in July or August.

<img src="http://www.opposingviews.com/attachments/0003/4643/axe_body_spray-thumb-... align="right">New Internet Fad: Kids Using Axe Body Spray to Light Selves on Fire
Video by Michael Flood McNulty Opposing Views
in Health / Parenting

LOS ANGELES --- School officials and law enforcement authorities are warning parents about a dangerous new Internet fad gaining popularity among teenagers: Lighting yourself on fire with Axe Body Spray. One school district in Washington State recently expelled six students for engaging in the risky activity.