Cuccinelli’s assessment mirrored the opinion of the US Department of Justice, which warned it would pursue legal action if Gov. Spanberger attempts to ban constitutionally protected guns. “The Second Amendment protects the rights of law-abiding citizens to own and use AR-15 style semiautomatic rifles for lawful purposes,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon explained in a letter to Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat.
Apparently unfazed by the legal threat, Spanberger released a statement in which she claimed to support the Second Amendment while framing Virginia’s proposed “assault firearms” ban as a matter of “commonsense” public safety. Virginia’s General Assembly will determine whether or not to approve Spanberger’s changes.
‘For the Defense of Liberty’
As the sole witness on the first panel, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) laid the foundation for the hearing, offering analysis on the Second Amendment’s purpose: “The simple and direct language of our Constitution is clear: The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” He continued:
“There are no qualifiers on who may keep arms, what types of arms they may keep, or for what purposes. And it certainly doesn’t say that the right to bear arms is about trivial matters like deer hunting or skeet shooting. The Second Amendment exists for one clear reason: defense. For the defense of one’s home, one’s family, and one’s community. For the defense of liberty and safety, not only from a lone assailant, but from the whole of tyrannical government.”
The Founders opposed tyrannical government so strongly that they affirmed the right of citizens in the newly established United States to overthrow even the government they themselves created. Clearly, when they wrote in the US Constitution that they intended to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” they meant it.
