Our gun rights need protection

We can only hope that when the Supreme Court and national political groups finish fiddling with America’s gun laws that Alaska’s way of life will still be viable.

The big problem — the one that sometimes makes understanding each other’s problems so difficult for many — is that the laws are intended to meet many very different needs.

In Alaska many of us use guns to harvest meat animals and put food on our tables. But in places like New York City and metropolitan New Jersey people often buy guns primarily to provide personal protection. That is part of the picture here as well, but protecting yourself in the wilds of Alaska involves far different parameters than in a large metropolitan area in the Lower 48.

The Second Amendment was obviously passed right after the First Amendment, which guaranteed the right of free speech. The two measures were amendments to the United States Constitution and aimed at protecting what our nation’s founders considered rights fundamental to freedoms they valued most highly. And they provided the legal foundation for the system we have today.

The Second Amendment states that: “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.” Our nation’s founding fathers gave a major priority to that amendment and made it a critical part of the Constitution.

The first two amendments were passed by Congress in 1791 as a way to guarantee that the people of this then-new nation would be able to live the kinds of lives that the founders considered most important. And that meant being able to function well in a country with few rules but many opportunities.

Those desires were a direct result of and reaction to the repression visited on people in the original colonies by the military forces of the British government. The Americans who passed such laws were saying “Never again.” And the decisions they made 245 years ago have stood the test of time and are as valid today as they were then.

Since guns are potentially lethal weapons, this nation’s founders recognized that rules would need to be established and dutifully maintained to minimize their misuse. And those rules today are the foundation for the laws governing how guns may and may not be used.

Setting up and creating rules for using guns obviously required establishing a delicate balance. It speaks well for the good sense of those who wrote the Constitution and its amendments that the balance they established has held up well over time.

Among the critical decisions was writing rules for gun use such as those for concealed carry. Obviously if any moron could pack a pistol under any conditions, America could be a dangerous place in which tavern-goers could render themselves under the influence, whip out their weapons and put the lives of others at serious risk without legal recourse for those others.

Our favorite taverns and restaurants could conceivably become dangerous places to visit. That did happen in some parts of the old West for a time but common sense generally prevailed and workable rules were established.

Fortunately, those who write the laws intended to keep people from injuring or killing each other have given a lot of thought to what should be allowed and what not. And those laws when enacted and enforced have made our communities very livable places.

From time to time the Supreme Court takes a new look at laws like the Second Amendment and issues modified rulings that provide new and valuable guidance both for those who use guns and our enforcement officers.

Recently the court has taken a new look at the Second Amendment and how it governs our behavior. As before, the new look made many gun-owners nervous but in the end our constitutional rights seem to be protected by the law as well as common sense.

And once again common sense seems to have played an important role in decision-making.

Tom Brennan is an Anchorage columnist and author of six books. He was a reporter/columnist for The Anchorage Times and an editor and columnist at The Voice of The Times.