Gun Owners Correct Obama on Constitution
Bob Unruh/WND
President Obama has a long record of misquoting the nation’s founding documents, whether intentionally or accidentally, repeatedly leaving out “God” or “Creator.”
Now the leaders of the activist group Gun Owners of America are correcting the commander in chief’s description of a provision in the U.S. Constitution.
In an open letter to Obama, the organization contends a statement on the White House website referencing the Constitution is wrong.
It states, “The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms.”
But the GOA letter argues the Second Amendment does not “give” citizens any rights.
“Rather, as the U.S. Supreme Court explained in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), the Second Amendment ‘codifies,’ ‘protects,’ and ‘secure[s]‘ a right – rather than ‘grants,’ ‘bestows,’ or ‘gives’ one,” said the letter, signed by GOA founder state Sen. H.L. “Bill” Richardson, Vice President Tim Macy, Executive Director Lawrence Pratt and board members Gerry Ognibene and Sam Paredes.
“The Supreme Court explicitly stated that ‘it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The Second Amendment text recognizes the right as pre-existent, declaring only that it ‘shall not be infringed.” Id. at 592 (emphasis added). That is why the court concluded in Heller that the right to keep and bear arms ‘belongs to all Americans,’” the letter released this week said.
“Thus, the Second Amendment protects a right granted us by our Creator, as described in the nation’s charter, the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
“You can understand our concern here, for if the Second Amendment is a mere privilege given to American citizens by government, it is a privilege which can be overcome by naked assertions of public safety. Indeed, this misunderstanding of the Second Amendment undergirds the erroneous positions being argued in many cases across the country by your Attorney General and the U.S. Justice Department,” the letter told Obama.
The organization, which has 300,000 members, also noted that the White House fails to recognize the Constitution’s protection for citizens’ right to “keep” arms.
“Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court in Heller expressly addressed the right to ‘keep’ a handgun for self-defense within the home. In its analysis, the Supreme Court, in parsing the words of the Second Amendment, analyzed the right to ‘keep’ separately from the right to ‘bear’ arms. Id. at 581. These two words have specific, and different, meanings, protecting different sets of activities. One must first enjoy the right to own (‘keep’) a firearm in order to protect its use (‘bear’),” the letter said.
The group suggested corrected language should read:
“The Second Amendment seeks to preserve the United States as a free nation, by protecting the right of individual American citizens to acquire, own, possess, sell, carry and use modern firearms, both through service in a citizen’s militia as a final line of defense against government tyranny, as well as other personal uses such as self-defense, hunting, and other sporting activities.”
“We look forward to these corrections to the White House’s website being made in the near future.”
WND reported in February a member of Congress said Obama issues arbitrary changes to the Obamacare law and has expressed his intention to address issues such as immigration by simply signing executive orders.
Obama repeatedly has omitted references to God, such as “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “by their Creator” in the Declaration of Independence, when quoting the historic documents.
Citing the Declaration, he said all men “are endowed” with certain rights instead of “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
The omissions became so egregious that members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus wrote to Obama asking him to correct a speech he gave in Indonesia in which he said the the nation’s motto is “E pluribus unum,” not “In God We Trust.”
The GOA letter also cited a series of failures to reference the “Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence.
“For the president of the United States to incorrectly state something as foundational as our national motto in another country is unacceptable,” said the letter. “The president is the primary representative of our nation to the world, and whether mistake or intention, his actions cast aside an integral part of American society.”
It said, “President Reagan once warned that ‘If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.’”
Obama had stated: “I believe that the history of both America and Indonesia should give us hope. It is a story written into our national mottos. In the United States, our motto is E pluribus unum – out of many, one. Bhinneka Tunggal Ika – unity in diversity. We are two nations, which have traveled different paths. Yet our nations show that hundreds of millions who hold different beliefs can be united in freedom under one flag. And we are now building on that shared humanity – through young people who will study in each other’s schools; through the entrepreneurs forging ties that can lead to greater prosperity; and through our embrace of fundamental democratic values and human aspirations.”
The earlier letter also challenged Obama’s repeated omissions.
“Once may be a mistake. But twice is a pattern. These omissions and inaccuracies are a part of a larger pattern we are seeing with the president where he is inaccurately reflecting America and undercutting important parts of our nation’s history,” a member of the caucus said at the time. “Trust in God is embedded in the fabric of society and history in the United States.”
It was martial arts champion, actor and WND columnist Chuck Norris who noted Obama omitted “Creator” seven times over the period of just a few months:
His research lists the following:
- Oct. 21, 2010, at a rally for Sen. Patty Murray in Seattle: “None of us would be here if it weren’t for that extraordinary leap of faith that had been taken. Thirteen colonies deciding to start a revolution based on an idea that had never been tried before – a government of and by and for the people. A government based on the simple proposition that all men are created equal. That we’re endowed with certain inalienable rights.”
- Oct. 18, 2010, at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dinner in Rockville, Maryland: “It has to do with this idea that was started by 13 colonies that decided to throw off the yoke of an empire, and said, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that each of us are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’”
- Oct. 17, 2010, at a reception for Gov. Ted Strickland in Chagrin Fall, Ohio: “The idea of America has never been easy. The notion of 13 colonies coming together and overthrowing the greatest empire in the world, and then drafting a document that says, we find these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights – that’s hard.”
- Sept. 22, 2010, at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dinner in New York City: “And what was sustaining us was that sense that – that North Star, that sense that, you know what, if we stay true to our values, if we believe that all people are created equal and everybody is endowed with certain inalienable rights and we’re going to make those words live, and we’re going to give everybody opportunity, everybody a ladder into the middle class.”
- Sept. 15, 2010, at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 33rd annual awards gala in Washington: “But over the centuries, what eventually bound us together – what made us all Americans – was not a matter of blood, it wasn’t a matter of birth. It was faith and fidelity to the shared values that we all hold so dear. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights: life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
- Sept. 11, 2010, at the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia: “For our cause is just. Our spirit is strong. Our resolve is unwavering. Like generations before us, let us come together today and all days to affirm certain inalienable rights, to affirm life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
- Sept. 10, 2010, at the president’s press conference at the White House: “With respect to the mosque in New York, I think I’ve been pretty clear on my position here, and that is, is that this country stands for the proposition that all men and women are created equal; that they have certain inalienable rights – one of those inalienable rights is to practice their religion freely.”
In a commentary on the subject, Chuck Norris wrote: “The truth is, if you want an accurate religious history of America, you’re no longer going to get it from our president, our progressive society or secular schools, at least not without unbiased trained teachers or the induction of a religious curriculum that hasn’t tampered and twisted history.”
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