By persuading the public that non-citizens, particularly illegal immigrants, do not enjoy the same inalienable rights as law-abiding citizens (a fact refuted by the Constitution and every credible legal scholar in the country), the Deep State is leading us down a road in which all rights are transitory. [More]
True, but by getting us to chase a red herring they don’t have to worry about the answer.
[Via bondmen]
“The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the fundamental rights of all persons within the United States, regardless of their citizenship status, race, religion, or any other factor. When the government starts making distinctions about who is entitled to these rights, it undermines the universality that makes them so powerful. This creates a slippery slope where rights become privileges, subject to the whims of those in power.”
That simply is not true.
Any place in the Bill of Rights where you find the phrase “the people” you are in fact reading about one of those protected classes. Compare that to the 14th Amendment where the term used is “persons.”
And it states that “persons” in the United States are not citizens, i.e. a member of one of those protected classes, unless they were born here or have become naturalized. I’m not sure if there is a legal definition of the term of art “the people” but you can get hints from the Militia Composition and Classes section of USC.
Long story short, the Second Amendment does not forbid the Federal or state government(s) from infringing on the RKBA of illegal aliens simply because they are not part of “the people.”
From US v. Verdugo-Urquidez (1990):
The Second Amendment protects “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,” and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments provide that certain rights and powers are retained by and reserved to “the people.” See also U.S. Const., Amdt. 1, (“Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably to assemble”); Art. I, s 2, cl. 1 (“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States”) (emphasis added). While this textual exegesis is by no means conclusive, it suggests that “the people” protected by the Fourth Amendment, and by the First and Second Amendments, and to whom rights and powers are reserved in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, refers to a class of persons who are part of a national community or who have otherwise developed sufficient connection with this country to be considered part of that community. 110 S. Ct. at 1061.