Jamie Raskin: The Second Amendment Gives No Comfort to Insurrectionists

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Harry Litman
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Elegant and important essay by ⁦@RepRaskin⁩ debunking the disturbingly persistent idea that the 2nd Am gives citizens the right to take up arms against the government.

via @NYTOpinion

nytimes.com
Opinion | The Second Amendment Gives No Comfort to Insurrectionists
It is essential to reject the myth that frustrated citizens have a right to raise arms against the government.
8:25 AM · Sep 27, 2022

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https://web.archive.org/web/20220927092910/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/27/opinion/us-second-amendment.html

Many Republicans in Congress agree with Representative Matt Gaetz that the Second Amendment “is about maintaining within the citizenry the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary.”

This purported right to overthrow the government means that the people must enjoy access to weapons that are wholly unnecessary for hunting or self-defense, such as military-style assault weapons. As Representative Chip Roy, a Republican, argues, the Second Amendment was “designed purposefully to empower the people to resist the force of tyranny used against them.”

Some champions of this insurrectionist theory of the Second Amendment seem to glorify violence against public officials. Two weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection overran the U.S. Capitol, Representative Lauren Boebert declared that the Second Amendment “has nothing to do with hunting, unless you’re talking about hunting tyrants, maybe.”

Statements such as these were irresponsible enough before Jan. 6. Today, such talk courts disaster. It valorizes the brutality of the worst insurrectionary domestic attack at the Capitol in U.S. history, freezes our ability to pass reasonable gun safety legislation and justifies even more deadly political violence. It is essential to reject the myth that frustrated citizens have a Second Amendment right to raise arms against the government — an outrageous betrayal of our Constitution.

*snip*

[Walleye]

1. I shot this year's ago at a rally in Dover, Delaware.Called it the right to bare arms

I’ve been hearing this shit about overthrowing the government for years now. Didn’t they fold up when the National Guard showed up real weapons and soldiers

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. Mr. Raskin's essay is indeed "elegant and important", but "you dumbasses" works, too.

Idiot Republicans should learn to read.

Amendment II

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.

If idiot Republicans can absorb the bold part above, then they should tackle the parts of the U.S. Constitution that Mr. Raskin points out -- Articles I, III, and IV.

Maybe we need some children's books illustrator to explain the Constitution to idiot Republicans.