June 2, 2022

The Washington Post’s BIG 2A Lie

The right to keep and bear arms IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN an individual right.

Leftists, in their never-ending quest to rewrite American history to better support their fact-averse narratives, are at it again. This time, it’s the gun-grabbers at The Washington Post.

In an “analysis” piece titled “How the Second Amendment Was Reinterpreted to Protect Individual Rights,” someone named Amber Phillips foists the following falsehood upon the Post’s credulous readership:

Historians say that the notion that the [Second Amendment] protects people’s right to have guns for self-defense is a relatively recent reading of the Constitution, born out of a conservative push in the 1980s and ‘90s. … The interpretation that the Second Amendment extends to individuals’ rights to own guns only became mainstream in 2008, when the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark gun case, District of Columbia vs. Heller, that Americans have a constitutional right to own guns in their homes, knocking down the District’s handgun ban.

Um, no.

First, we should cling tightly and jealously to our constitutional rights whenever we hear a leftist begin an argument with, “Historians say,” because they’re about to cite a bunch of left-wing historians. Second, Americans were strongly in favor of an individual right to keep and bear arms before Heller was decided — by a 73-20 margin. Third, this isn’t merely a case of sloppy or ignorant editing. It’s part of a concerted effort. Later on in the piece, Phillips refers to “a relatively recent political push by gun rights groups to reinterpret the Constitution.”

Again, no. Here’s how National Review’s Charles Cooke describes this attempt to deceive: “It is, of course, a ridiculous, contemptuous, malicious lie, a myth, or, if you prefer to use a phrase that has become popular of late, disinformation. It has never — at any point in the history of the United States — been ‘mainstream’ to interpret the Second Amendment as anything other than a protection of ‘individuals’ rights to own guns.‘”

What’s Cooke talking about here? Well, as we learned in eighth-grade civics class, the Second Amendment to the Constitution is part of a larger treatise of 10 amendments called The Bill of Rights. And if there’s one thing we know about The Bill of Rights, it’s that the rights identified therein pertain to individuals, not ill-defined collectives. Think about it: the right to worship as we please; to speak; to write; to peaceably assemble; to freely associate; to petition the government; to due process of law; to a speedy trial by a jury of our peers; to confront our accusers; to be free from unlawful searches and seizures, and from cruel and unusual punishments; to keep from having to house the army in our homes. We could go on. And nestled there amongst all of them is our First Freedom, the freedom that enables all the others: the right to defend ourselves against individuals — or against an oppressive government — as codified in the Second Amendment:

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.

What part of “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” do leftists simply not understand? As Cooke continues: “The decision in Heller was, indeed, 'landmark.’ But it was so only because it represented the first time that the Supreme Court had been asked a direct question about the meaning of the amendment that, for more than two centuries up to then, had not needed to be asked.”

Columnist David Harsanyi provides some solid historical background for the Second Amendment’s individual nature, and for the individual right to self-defense itself — which, he notes, “goes back farther than our right to a free press and to freedom of religion.”

Then there’s the argument put forth by our second president, John Adams, who noted in a letter to William Sumner that the fledgling United States would be every bit as “conquerable” as Europe were the citizenry equally disarmed. “Here,” he went on, “every house is a castle, and every man a soldier. Arms are in every hand, confidence in every mind, and courage in every heart. It depends upon its own will, and not upon the force of the enemy, whether such a country shall ever be conquered.”

The Second Amendment as a “collective” right? Rubbish.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.