Bullet Holes in the Bill of Rights
David L. Katz, MD, MPH
CMO, Tangelo. Founder: Diet ID; True Health Initiative. Founding Director, Yale-Griffin PRC (1998-2019). Health Journalist. COVID Curmudgeon
This will be brief: I find it incredible, and deeply disheartening, that the confirmation of our next US Surgeon General may come undone because Dr. Vivek Murthy has expressed his support for widely favored gun control measures, such as an assault weapons ban.
Now, before you start taking shots at me- let’s be clear: I am not writing about gun control today. I have done that before, and weathered the attendant barrage. Today, I am writing about bills, not bullets; dialogue, not Derringers.
The most ardent proponents of gun rights and the most impassioned advocates for gun control are obligated to come together and acknowledge the relevance of the Bill of Rights. Interpretations of the Second Amendment vary, but the fundamental relevance of the Bill of Rights and its amendments to the ineluctable aspects of being American do not. We are American; these are our rights.
So here’s my problem: on what basis do we invoke the Second Amendment to put bullet holes in the First? Dr. Murthy as Surgeon General would have no policy-making authority at all. No Surgeon General, not even the most activist, has had anything whatever to do with gun laws. The likelihood of any such thing is so remote as to be laughable. One Surgeon General was terminated because she used the word “masturbation” in a speech.
So what this really comes down to is the tolerance of our culture for the expression of opinions, or in other words, expression of our First Amendment rights. Dr. Murthy is a public health physician. Given the relevant epidemiology, that a public health physician would express support for curtailing the distribution of high-capacity, semi-automatic weapons is far from surprising. That he has the right to do so is codified in our Constitution, and perhaps it’s even relevant that it comes before, not after, the right to bear arms. Freedom of speech is the First Amendment.
We may differ or agree on what we think the Second Amendment means, or what we wish it meant, or what we prefer to do about it. But we are obligated to agree that the Second Amendment does not have primacy over the First. If political deference to the NRA is causing us to repudiate the expression of opinion unrelated to policy, then we are allowing the Second Amendment to put bullet holes in the First. And wherever we stand on gun control, that redounds to our collective shame.
-fin
Dr. David L. Katz; www.davidkatzmd.com
www.turnthetidefoundation.org
Author, Disease Proof
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-David-L-Katz/114690721876253
https://twitter.com/DrDavidKatz
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pub/david-l-katz-md-mph/7/866/479/
Photo: Shutterstock.com
--
10 年Really let me say simply the 2nd amendment and our Constitution is more important than Obama getting this ridiculous appointment get real
Retired Special Investigator/Novelist/Mentor/ Internal self-improvement
10 年It is not a stretch of the imagination to say that an anti-gun Surgeon General could help provide support to this Administration's efforts to ban guns in general. They could do this by using the government's new healthcare mandates in some fashion as an end around to the 2nd Amendment. The Surgeon General could come out very vocally against firearms citing some whipped up study that households with firearms are "unhealthy to children" or "provide unsafe environments" or some such nonsense. The sycophant media plaster the study all over the place getting a lot of people to buy into it, force the NRA on the defense again making them continuing to look very extreme, and then bam the next thing you know the Administration announces that homes with firearms registered or that can be matched up with BATFE records showing ownership and are receiving Obamacare benefits must surrender those firearms to local authorities for destruction to stay in federal compliance. A de-facto gun ban by health scare and manipulation. Control its all about control. They want it and people like me want them to shove it. .
Retired Respiratory Therapist
10 年I agree with Tom, advocating is one thing, indoctrinating is another...
Amazing Results With Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.
10 年Dr. Vivek Murthy is a poor candidate for Surgeon General. It has nothing to do with the fact that he would like to see only criminals have guns. Whe
Supply Chain - Manufacturing & Healthcare
10 年I'm not sure that's the problem with Dr. Murthy's candidacy. The fact is that historically, candidates have a much more in depth experience in the medical profession than just heading a group of doctors in support of the President's health care law. They are typically in senior positions or on the BOD's for major hospitals with 30-40 years experience and have made major contributions to the healthcare field. Maybe in 20 or 30 years he can reapply.....