Which Amendment to the Constitution

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Mayo

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do you consider to be the most important? I know they are all important, and this is a gun forum, but if you could pick only 1 which would it be and why?
 
the second...

DUH...

The Second is because with out it, there would be no means to enforce the rest of it, should push come to shove.
 
I agree with DogBonz... if you're armed, and if you have courage, you automatically have all your other inalienable rights. With arms & courage you can defend your right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.
 
Well, even if the right to bear arms is the only one that we have, then we can use that right to take all of the other ones back.
 
DogBonz makes an excellent point - withut the 2nd, all the others are in danger.

But next to the 2nd, the most important amendment IMHO is the 10th. That's the one that limits Federal power. (Too bad it's one of the most violated parts of the Constitution.)

It basically says, the the Fed has only the powers explicitly listed in the Constitution, and no more. The states and lower groups can exercise the other powers if they want to.

Naturally, the leftists ignore and disparage that one more than almost any other.
 
I forget who said it...

But, I was watching a comedian doing her stand-up routine and she was talking about her boyfriend who was from Russia.
Her: My BF loves America. I asked him why and he said:

Him: “America great country. Have second amendment. Keep and bear arms.”

Her: OK. What about the first? Don’t you like freedom of speech?

Him: When you have gun you can say whatever you want!
 
#10 is
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
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Without it some nitwit can say:
"You don't have the right to breathe because it isn't listed in the Constitution."
"You can keep guns but you don't have a right to keep ammo."
"You can't eat food with trans-fat because it isn't in the Bill of Rights."
 
Tenth

I think the Tenth Amendment is the most important, but I think I see it in a different light than some of y'all.

Perhaps the RKBA is a most vital right, but I think the Second Amendment only limits the US ... if the Second Amendment and the whole US government vanished into thin air I expect my RKBA would be improved.
 
Molon Labe said:
With arms & courage you can defend your right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.
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You can try - no more than that.


You guys are all wrong.
The Second amendment is clearly not very important. To start with, the government has grown hugely totalitarian and nobody managed to prevent it with arms. In fact, the government does not even try much to infringe on the right to bear arms. It sees no reason to.
The current anti-gun campaigns are purely sentimental and directed against guns least dangerous to the government – crappy “evil-looking” carbines and pistols. The most dangerous weapons Americans possess are in fact scoped deer rifles.

The most practically important part of the Constitution that mattered for preventing the government growing in power uncontrollably is “…but gold and silver coin.”
That has been finally subverted in 1913 - and before that temporarily in 1860s in order to suppress the southern drive for independence - and now most of the population would have no idea how significant it was and that – or why – there was such a huge public debate for decades about that.

Make people ask the wrong questions, and you do not need to worry about the answers.

miko
 
The Second is because with out it, there would be no means to enforce the rest of it, should push come to shove.
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Which is precisely the answer I was looking for. I've seen so many on this forum and others say "why do you focus so much on the 2nd Amendment when all the others are in danger..." This has been their answer to why they are voting either Democrat or Libertarian instead of Republican. My point is without the 2nd, we would have no shot of ever overturning our government(not likely) if ever needed. Keep that in mind when you vote!
 
I don't think the 2nd Amendment is the most important. I think it is in a tie with the 1st, and probably a couple of others. For those who think the second is more important, think about the big picture. If your first amendment rights are destroyed while you sit by complacently and clean your guns, then how will you coordinate anything to restore your rights? If there is no free press, how will you rally people together? You won't. You will be isolated, alone, and easy to defeat. You will not be able to recruit people to your side.

If it ever gets to the point that you are actually in need of defending your rights with force, it probably won't be done with guns for the most part.
You will be using IED, pipe bombs, car bombs, etc, just like the insurgents in Iraq. The idea of citizens with semi-auto M4geries standing up toe to toe against the US Army makes about as much sense for us as it does for the Iraqis. It would be a slaughter on an open battlefield, just as it was during our Revolution.

Finally, remember that just because you can see and feel your guns does not mean they are any more real than free speech. Gun owners got very riled up over the Assault Weapons Ban because they could not have flash hiders or bayonet lugs. The fact that no one has ever used their bayonet lugs doesnt matter. Gun Owners have for the most part sat by idly as the Campaign Finance Reform Law did more to restrict the First Amendment than the AWB did to restrict the second. Just because you can't see and touch "free speech" does not somehow make it less important.

The current Administration has placed restrictions on several of our guaranteed rights, but has curiously left the 2nd alone. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Gunowners need to get squeaky about the other Nine amenments.
 
derivation

Article. VI:

The United States Constitution itself; bear with me
"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Persuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land;and the Judges in every state shall be bound therebyany Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding."

The bold and underlined type -my own emphasis.

As the Amendments are laws "Persuant thereof," this becomes effective for them.

This means that no judiciary, Supreme or not, are able to abbrogate or nullify the supreme Law of the Land, and in fact they are bound to it!
All it takes to straighten out some of the messes we are in is for some jurists or citizens to obtain justice from our courts.
 
If your first amendment rights are destroyed while you sit by complacently and clean your guns, then how will you coordinate anything to restore your rights? If there is no free press, how will you rally people together? You won't. You will be isolated, alone, and easy to defeat.
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Well, the colonists managed to do it.

Here's the deal: the government really can't take away your right to free speech. It can only prohibit you from exercising it. (There is a subtle but key distinction here.)

Here's the way it works: If the government prohibits you from exercising your right to freedom of speech, you ignore the law. If the government tries to enforce its law, you use your arms to defend yourself.
 
The government can’t take away your right to arms either.

From the standpoint of restraining federal power, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments are the most important. Nevertheless, they have failed to do so, as has the Second Amendment.

~G. Fink
 
Its like asking which ingredient in a stew is the most important.

It is the combination of all 10 of the bill of rights that is important ... without any of them we're just not as free as we would otherwise be.
 
If I can stick my oar in (as a crazy canajan), it seems the most "important" amendment in the constitution is the 16th. If you could remove that, most of the other abuses would crumble in time... :)
 
The 9th and 10th are sort of the "Bookend amendments".

The 10th deals with the powers of government, and the 9th deals with the rights of the people.

The 10th says that the Fed's powers are limited to only the ones listed in the Constitution, and is forbidden all others.

The 9ths says that the rights of the people are NOT limited to those listed in the Const. It specifically says we have other rights. Just because a right is not listed, doesn't mean we don't have it.
 
How important can the Second Amendment be if it has not really meant anything substantive since the early 1900s? :confused:


It would be important; it could be important, but it is not, today, important.
 
All excellent points. I like Miko's post a lot. He has a great point that few are aware of. Government now controls the value of your money and the rate of inflation. The Constitution originally didn't give them that power, and it's a huge one. The Tenth is another great one, as is the Second, for reasons already stated.
 
How important can the Second Amendment be if it has not really meant anything substantive since the early 1900s?


It would be important; it could be important, but it is not, today, important.
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I disagree. No matter how much the Federal Government tramples on our uninfringeable right to keep and bear arms, we have clear documentation in its very founding document that they were NEVER GIVEN AUTHORITY to do so. This gives us a moral certitude regarding this point that we would not have had there not been a Second Amendment. We can now always thrust this amendment in their faces and say, LOOK, SEE HERE, YOU DON'T HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DO THAT!!! It gives us courage to demand that they stop trampling on this liberty with their manifestly unconstitutional, and therefore null and void, laws.
 
The two most important amendments, in terms of their real effect on the country, are:

The 14th (giving the federal courts control over the States), and

The 16th (giving the federal government access to unlimited direct taxation of income).

Those two pretty much did in the government the founding fathers intended.
 
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