Constitution, Bill of Rights should reign supreme
IF WE count the 1839 Edward Bulwer-Lytton axiom that “The pen is mightier than the sword,” as having validity, and we are to hold that red flag laws are to keep guns out of the hands of those the all-knowing government and medical community deem as a danger, then I hold up Frank Lloyd Wright’s observation as equally valid: “I’m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with typewriters.”
The Journal ran three letters supporting the red flag laws in its most widely circulated Sunday (Jan. 12) edition. There were no letters representing the anti-red flag laws, this I hope will suffice.
As a retired military and law enforcement officer I was surprised, albeit mildly, at Quay County Attorney (Warren F.) Frost’s declaration: “If you can’t enforce the law, resign.” I would strongly suggest to Frost and all those who support the red flag laws, that standing in opposition to them is precisely just that, following the law. Following the greatest and most essential laws of our republic, in fact, the constitution and the Bill of Rights therein.
The Second Amendment clearly states that the “Right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Even the most nubile student of our republic’s founding will tell you that both the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists were adamantly opposed to the government having the right or the authority to disarm citizens.
Law enforcement officers and the military have pledged their very lives in the defense of this sacred document without which freedom and our democratic republic die. In fact, all honor and duty demands opposition to red f lag laws.
Sadly if those within our law enforcement community are coerced into enforcement of red flag laws, they, not the politicians and liberal anti-gun activists who created them, will be placed in harm’s way when they show up on someone’s doorstep who has broken no laws and demand their private property via the threat of imprisonment or death if opposed. CAPT. J. CRAIG MCCLURE Albuquerque Retired military and retired from the state of New Mexico