Progressives and Language

Democratic Party ex-Presidential candidate and Vice President Joe Biden had this to say, this time about our Constitution:

…Second Amendment says which he [Democratic Party Presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders (D, VT)] has of late, the Second Amendment says you can limit who can own a gun.

What the words on the Constitution’s parchment say:

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.

However, to Progressives, words have exactly the meanings Progressives say they have. Not more, not less. And so “shall not,” of course means “shall.”

All the rest of us should just shut up. We don’t understand the words.

The Left and Gun Control

A 23-year-old man, 5′ 11″ tall and weighing 200 lbs, stalked and tried to assault a 65-year-old woman, standing 4′ 11″ and weighing all of 105 lbs. This thug followed her from a convenience store stop she made on the way home from work to her parking spot in her apartment complex.

When he grabbed for the woman, she drew her (legally owned and carried) pistol and shot him, thereby successfully defending herself from what was, at best, a strong-arm robbery attempt, and quite possibly a follow-up murder.

Let me emphasize that: this small, older woman successfully defended herself against a man one-third her age and twice her size with the only equalizer adequate to the task, a firearm.

Let me emphasize one more item: this is the sort of thing that President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats and Progressives actively seek to prevent: a citizen defending himself—herself in this case—without benefit of Big Government’s good offices from an assault that even the police are powerless to prevent, only to react against well after the assault has run its course.

But, of course, Obama and Democrats and Progressives know full well that independent, self-reliant citizens are anathema to their policies.

Obama and Gun Control

In a recent Wall Street Journal article regarding President Barack Obama’s (D) planned unilateral actions to impose further gun controls on us, Obama was quoted as saying

We know that we can’t stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something—anything—to protect our kids from gun violence?

Congress already has done quite a bit to protect our kids: they’ve been blocking your constant efforts to disarm us and thereby leave our kids utterly defenseless against still-armed criminals.

What’s more, We the People—your employer, even though you choose not to accept that—also have already done something, the critical thing, to protect our kids. It’s called the 2nd Amendment, reprinted below for your education.

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.

There’s nothing in there that says you get to do what you feel like about our Arms. Note especially that phrase shall not be infringed. This means you, Ace.