01/09/2011
My post It’sPatriotism And Respect For The Constitution, Not A Parallel Universe, about the non-citizens and the right to keep and bear arms drew this response from Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America:
Thanks for your piece in VDare. This is the statement I have been putting out.
Larry Pratt
"Constitutional rights belong only to citizens. The ACLU’s logic can lead to tearing down our border — that there are no rights unique to American citizenship, so, hey, let everyone come in. That same logic allows the state to take away the right to keep and bear arms of a citizen. We have argued in court that only a citizen can lose his right to keep and bear arms by renouncing his citizenship. The current view that citizenship is no big deal has led to a progressive encirclement of the exercise of our rights. We gave gone from denying the right to keep and bear arms to felons, then to those with misdemeanors, now to those with certain medical diagnoses (and that without any due process).
We must make the distinction between citizens and others.a
The American constitutional order is one of rights for citizens. Any enjoyment of those rights by non-citizens is a privilege in constitutional terms. The ACLU, as usual, is wrong in this case. It is for the state of South Dakota to determine whether legal non-citizens have the right to keep and bear arms. I don’t agree with their new policy, but constitutionally, they are within their power to so act."
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.