{"id":569247,"date":"2018-04-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=569247"},"modified":"2018-04-29T14:05:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T20:05:22","slug":"the-first-and-second-amendments-are-both-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/04\/the-first-and-second-amendments-are-both-essential\/","title":{"rendered":"The First and Second amendments are both essential"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve thought a lot about New Mexico\u2019s history of colonization and oppression, and my ancestors\u2019 role in it, as I\u2019ve watched debates about the First and Second amendments play out over the past several years.<\/p>\n

The Spanish government sent my Montes ancestors north from Zacatecas in 1694 to help shore up the reconquest of what today is Northern New Mexico. That came 14 years after Native Americans rose up against their Spanish overlords, killing hundreds and forcing the survivors to flee to El Paso.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

The histories of our state and nation are full of examples of people taking up arms \u2013 be they bows and arrows in 1680 or guns in the modern era \u2013 to fight for freedom. Those who formed the United States had this in mind when they wrote the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

They created the First Amendment to protect our right to petition our government to address injustice, and also our right to protest when the government fails to do that.<\/p>\n

And they created the Second Amendment for times it becomes necessary to challenge a government that has become oppressive.<\/p>\n

People sometimes debate whether the First or Second amendment is more important. The answer is they\u2019re symbiotic. These checks on the corrupting influence of power intend that we work tirelessly to talk through our differences \u2013 but have the option of force as a last resort.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most challenging part about the rights to speak and bear arms is that they apply to all of us, or they\u2019re at risk for everyone. No matter how distasteful we find a person\u2019s opinions, he or she has the right to share them. It\u2019s unacceptable that people on some public college campuses have violently protested speeches by prominent conservatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And people of color have the same gun rights as white folks. The NRA\u2019s inconsistent defense of black people<\/a> reveals a shameful history for the organization \u2013 and too many white Americans \u2013 of not living up to that principle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I am, obviously, a frequent exerciser of my First Amendment right to free speech, as evidenced by the fact that you\u2019re reading something I wrote. I\u2019m also a gun owner exercising my Second Amendment rights for hunting and personal defense.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m encouraged by the societal conversation about addressing mass shootings and other gun deaths. Constitutional rights can be restricted, within reasonable limits. We must work to determine if our gun laws need to change.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019d like this conversation to start from an understanding that our rights are foundational to preserving freedom. Calls to repeal the Second Amendment<\/a>, while they may be well-intentioned, are misguided. So are beliefs that we should limit speech we find abhorrent.<\/p>\n

Our government has become increasingly oligarchical and militaristic as it\u2019s fused with our most powerful corporations over the last several decades. Our constitutional rights are intended exactly for times like these.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a call for violent revolution. It is a plea to preserve the power created by the First and Second amendments that enables citizens to contend with our government. The fact that we\u2019re able to own guns creates a potential threat to government overreach.<\/p>\n

I hope we never again reach a point where force against the government is necessary. But history suggests we could. And I say that as a descendent of colonizers who needed to be challenged with force in New Mexico centuries ago.<\/p>\n

We must address gun deaths in America, but without eroding the protections that keep this republic from becoming a militaristic dictatorship.<\/p>\n

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Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People sometimes debate whether the First or Second amendment to the U.S. Constitution is more important. The answer is they\u2019re symbiotic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[289,3270,2109,2261],"class_list":["post-569247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2nd-amendment","tag-first-amendment","tag-guns","tag-u-s-constitution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}