Republicans-“Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms”

What is your chief concern about the United States right now? Is it inflation, gasoline prices, wages, schools, gun violence, access to healthcare, housing, immigration, crime, taxes,integrity in government or any number of important issues?

In the United States we are having a national election this year . We won’t elect another president until 2024 but we are electing all 435 members of the House of Representatives who serve for two years and a large number of Senators who serve for six years.

Here I start a series of blog posts that review each major party’s platform on healthcare and related issues. I take this information directly from the website of each party’s platform and include the link so you can read the complete document. This is not commentary or opinion since there’s enough of that online now; we need to inform ourselves and thoughtfully consider where we stand as individuals. I suspect most of us will be somewhere between the polarizing extremes.

Whether you are registered as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or some other party, ultimately you will vote for a person, so I think it’s most important to study the candidates to see what they propose and promise to do. They may not agree with every part of their party’s platform, but generally will align with its values. So I read the platforms, and encourage you to do also.

Several recent episodes of gun violence at a grocery, a school, a church, and a medical office have made that issue high profile, so I’m starting with it.

Since the Republican party is in the minority in Congress, I will start with their position on gun control. In a separate post I will present the Democratic position.

The Second Amendment: Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms

(This is in section “A Rebirth of Constitutional Government”)

“We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a natural inalienable right that predates the Constitution and is secured by the Second Amendment.

Lawful gun ownership enables Americans to exercise their God-given right of self-defense for the safety of their homes, their loved ones, and their communities.”

Republicans support

firearm reciprocity legislation to recognize the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families in all 50 states

support constitutional carry statutes and salute the states that have passed them

oppose any effort to deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms without due process of law.

condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and the (past)Administration’s illegal harassment of firearm dealers

oppose federal licensing or registration of law-abiding gun owners, registration of ammunition, and restoration of the ill-fated Clinton gun ban.

call for a thorough investigation — by a new Republican administration — of the deadly “Fast and Furious” operation perpetrated by Department of Justice officials who approved and allowed illegal sales of guns to known violent criminals

(for reference, here is the text of the Second Amendment to the Constitution )

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Here is the link to the 2016 Republican Party Platform

Note: the Republican party did not write a new platform in the 2020 election year, rather affirmed the 2016 document.

exploring the HEART of health and safety

This post is dedicated to the victims of the mass shooting at the Saint Francis Natalie Building in Tulsa Oklahoma.