Gun Rights Are People’s Rights

“Take the guns first; go through due process second,” recommended Donald Trump in a meeting with Congress members during his first term as president. Through this comment offered in support of imposing rights-trampling “red flag” laws to deprive people of their guns, Trump displayed disdain for the right to bear arms and the right to due process, both protected in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.

Now, with Trump in his second presidential term, reports indicated there is discussion in the Department of Justice regarding placing legal limits on gun possession by “transgender” people. Will Trump jump to support this gun restriction like hid did red flag laws before?

One thing that may cause this discussion to be settled in favor of respecting the right of people to bear arms, and their due process rights as well, is the opposition among prominent gun-rights groups — the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and more — to the creating a “trans gun ban.” This is as it should be, as gun rights and due process rights are people’s rights, not just the rights of some people. Indeed, the Second Amendment states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” while the Fifth Amendment declares that “nor shall any person be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

C. J. Ciaramella discussed in a Saturday Reason article the opposition from gun-rights groups. He concluded his article with this reasonable assessment: “If the Trump Administration has any ability to read the room, it will quietly forget about its idea to illegally strip a group of Americans of their constitutional right to bear arms.”