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For the record: My Editorials about the Second Amendment

The most basic right of a free human being is the right to self-defense, and the Second Amendment is critical to protecting that right.

Second Amendment Rights

My views on gun control grew out of a deep personal conviction that one of the strongest safeguards of our republic is the Constitution's protection of the right to keep and bear arms. The Framers of the Constitution did not restrict Congress' power on a whim. It was, and still remains, a matter of rights that are basic to the preservation of our republic.

Gun control is based on the premise that guns increase crime, and therefore guns should be controlled. Yet that premise ignores the fact that millions of guns are and have been owned in America that have never been involved in any crime. Ironically, evidence from areas where guns are banned or strictly regulated indicates that generally only criminals have them. If we really want to fight crime, we need to focus on the criminals rather than their tools. That will do more to curb firearm violence than gun control ever could.

S.397:
Protection of the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act

I introduced S.397 to protect law-abiding gun dealers and manufacturers from being held responsible in court for the criminal actions of third parties. The bill was approved by the full Senate, 65 to 31.

Gun control advocates, largely unsuccessful in achieving their agenda through the legislative process, changed their tactics and were joined by several cities, which apparently refused to crack down on crime, in order to effectively sue American firearms dealers and manufacturers out of existence. S.397 was designed to put an end to predatory lawsuits which ultimately line the pockets of trial lawyers, rather than benefit victims of violent crime.

It was very rewarding to be at the White House and see the President sign legislation that will protect our Second Amendment rights. Firearms dealers and manufacturers who follow the law will no longer be threatened by activist lawyers who seek to advance their radical, anti-Second Amendment agenda through the courts, rather than the democratic legislative process.

The Protection of the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act—the first major pro-gun legislation to hit the President's desk in over a decade—was signed into Law by President Bush on October 26, 2005.


Our Founding Fathers Speak

Our Constitution and the Bill of Rights


On September 25, 1789, the First Federal Congress of the United States proposed to the state legislatures twelve amendments to the Constitution. The first two, concerning the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles three through twelve, known as the Bill of Rights, became the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution and contained guarantees of essential rights and liberties omitted in the crafting of the original document.

James Madison, of Virginia:

The Constitution preserves "the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation. . . (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."

- The Federalist, No. 46

Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia:

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms. . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

-"Commonplace Book"

Alexander Hamilton, of New York:

"[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow citizens."

-The Federalist, No. 29

Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts:

"The said Constitution [shall] be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms."

-Massachusetts' U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788

George Mason, of Virginia:

"That the People have a right to keep and bear Arms; that a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body of the People, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe Defence of a free state."

-"The essential and unalienable Rights of the People," adopted by the Virginia ratification convention, 1788

For the Record . . .

Learn more about my views on the Second Amendment from several editorials I have written recently:

217 Years Later, Americans Finally Get Their Second Amendment Rights
by US Senator Larry Craig
June 26, 2008

Two hundred and seventeen years is a long time to wait, but a long-awaited victory is all the more precious. On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered such a victory to freedom-loving American citizens, by reaffirming the fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms that is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

[full text]
  • Celebrate Support for Second Amendment -03/15/07

    March 9, 2007 could be viewed as a banner day for residents of Washington, D.C. It could be viewed as a banner day for Idahoans too, for the very same reason. What do the residents of the District and the residents of Idaho have in common? The Bill of Rights, of course.

  • A Hunting Heritage -10/14/05

    Many anti-Second Amendment advocates try to limit the availability of firearms because they either have no experience with, or they greatly discount, the positive benefits of firearm ownership. Most Idahoans' experiences are vastly different. Most of us grew up hunting or knowing someone who did. We saw people who treated firearms with responsibility and respect, people who followed the law.

  • Protecting the Second Amendment -07/29/05

    The Protection of the Lawful Commerce in Arms Act is designed to restore a bit of sanity to our legal system, so that all Americans and their families remain secure in their homes, and in their Second Amendment rights.

  • "When Guns are Outlawed..." -02/17/05

    To most people, it makes sense that General Motors can't be held responsible for the actions of drunk drivers, or that Louisville Slugger shouldn't be sued if a criminal uses one of their bats to assault someone. To some trial lawyers and social activists, however, this logic does not apply to firearms dealers and manufacturers.

  • Let Sleeping Laws Die -09/10/04

    If a law is ineffective, should we make a special effort to keep it alive, or just let it die?

    Minus all the shouting and symbolism, that's exactly the question Congress faced about renewing the ban on some "assault weapons," which expired on September 13, 2004. Although supporters of the ban want to renew and expand it to ban more guns, a Congressionally-mandated study found it has had no impact on violent crime.

  • For Responsibility, Law, and the Second Amendment -02/27/04

    When it comes to firearms and the firearms industry, these anti-Second Amendment lawyers and activists will use any means possible to take firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens and bankrupt the firearms industry in the United States. However, a large majority of Americans oppose gun control and more gun control laws, so the lawyers and activists have turned to the courts to achieve what they cannot through the legislative process.