Right to bear arms or Right to privacy?

Question

Conservatives support the patriot act which takes away privacy to indirectly "save lives"

Liberals support gun control taking away the 2nd amendment right and directly saving lives.

Which right would you rather lose?

Answer 1

This is intellectually dishonest. To state that Conservatives who support the Patriot Act and thereby imply we are interested in losing our privacy rights is a Liberal scare tactic.

And the Patriot Act also has the support of plenty of Democrats in Congress, btw.

Neither side is interested in losing our rights to privacy, which are not enumerated Constitutionally, at any rate. Terrorism has forced us to think differently about who is entitled to Constitutional protection.

It is time for Liberals to differentiate between foreign-born terrorists and US citizens.

And leave the gun issue alone. Americans aren't interested in becoming Europe.

Answer 2

No religion is about love of their piece. They love their guns more than they love their wives or their privacy. When was the last time you heard some Alzheimers addled washed up actor proclaim that you could only take his wife or his privacy from his cold dead hands? Ok, seriously, because they view gun ownership as the right that protects all the other rights, so unless you've got the boomsticks, none of the other rights count. Which is a very paranoid 17th century way of viewing things. Are people's rights really secure in Afghanistan just because every family has an AK-47? I don't think so.

Answer 3

Actually, the 2nd amendment allows you to maintain all your rights.
The empowered populace is what guarantees your rights.
The patriot act allows investigators to track suspicious activity that could point to someone attempting to perform a terrorist act. The 4th amendment is not threatened by this since they still need to gather enough evidence to prosecute for the act suspected.
The removal of the second amendment would universally allow the government to do as it see's fit without the fear of reprisal/uprising by the armed populace.
The reason that the 2nd has been watered down is because politicians know that this is the case and are trying to get it removed because of this.
One can't exist without the other. I would also suggest that you think of the rights listed in the Bill of Rights as responsibilities. It will help you understand how they interact and that these are rights of a free people, not a people willing to be subjects to a government.

Answer 4

I will not choose one or the other. The Constitution permits me to have both, the right to bear arms and my right to privacy. Although I do not own a gun, I would not have people give up a right that they originally had since the nation was made the United States.

Answer 5

One of the very first things Hitler did in power was to have all citizens register their guns and then he took them all away. I'll give a bit of my privacy to the government any day over my firearms!

Answer 6

Don't give me convenient "set-up" question.

The Patriot Act needs to be changed.

There's nothing wrong with gun "control."

We accept and abide by many other forms of government control in our daily lives without sniveling and whining.

Answer 7

gun control does not "take away" the second amendment, read the 2nd amendment, they intended us to have gun ownership as part of a regulated militia, not a bunch of random citizens with guns

Answer 8

What rights does the Patriot act take away? I still have ALL my rights.

Answer 9

You do understand that the gov't is not listening to YOURS or my phone conversations, do you not? They're trying to fry the big fish. I pick #1 because I have nothing to worry about.

Answer 10

Neither.