Reply #75: Do the people have the right or not?

[Francis Marion]

Did Black Panthers have the right or not to carry firearms in public, demonstrating on the steps of the California Legislature?

I would say that they did have that right because Black Panthers have every protection of law and every other right of The People.

Would a strong and secure state allow people to have guns in public, even on the steps of the capital building? That is an experiment in political speech.

Gun rights are the pH test of politics: try to exercise them, and you learn something about the political freedom nearby- whether or not the institutions respect the law and rights you think they should respect, and whether the people even recognize an exercise in civil rights when they see it.

We learn how much trust exists between government and people, and between an individual and their society.

The result in Utah?
The local LEOs agreed on the right to carry. Good.
But the PD didn't allow a peaceful person to exercise a civil right in public without treating the man like a suspect. Less good:
1) the PD acted to protect the public, because (some of) the public asked them to do so.
2) (some of) The public was alarmed at the sight of a person exercising Amendment 2 of the Bill of Rights. This suggests that education is necessary.

Should the sight of a person with a firearm in public, by itself, bother us? They have every right to do so. And yet this same stimulus scares some people, and for understandable reason, given recent events.

So who are we going to let win: a tiny subset of humanity- terrorists- who abuse law and the public trust? Or do we keep our calm and trust the great mass of law-abiding people?

We going to look sideways at every line of voters because some people commit election fraud?

We going to report every 'Middle Easterner' or person in a burka because some of them are suicide bombers?

I would rather live in a society that respects, and recognizes, the rights of everybody, from Black Panther to Joe Citizens alike. Because if our government is so strong, secure, and trustful of The People that even a radical's rights are recognized and respected, than your rights and mine will also be respected.