Brian@ITC said:
If the Constitution is the law of the land, WHO has the right to override or infringe on that law?
{snip}
If someone owns “land” in this country, do they have the right to tell you that you cannot carry?
{snip}
If the Constitution is not upheld and honored by the government or the citizens, then exactly WHAT VALUE DOES IT HAVE?
First, let me start by saying that, except for the private property rights issue, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you in principle. Here's the deal, both you and I can read the Constitution and decide that we think some action on the part of government is either constitutional or unconstitutional. But the problem is that the Constitution is not subject to our individual interpretations. You don't get to interpret it one way, and I don't get to interpret it another. There is only one body that ultimately gets to interpret it, and that is the Supreme Court - and the SCOTUS authority to do so is provided for by the document itself. The point is that, what you or I think is unconstitutional is actually irrelevant to what actually IS unconstitutional; and what IS unconstitutional is determined by the SCOTUS.
Secondly, the Constitution is not the law of the land. It is the framework or template upon which the laws of the land are supposed to be based. Ideally, for a law to stand as law, it must be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution - and that consistency to the template is decided by the SCOTUS if it gets challenged, not by you or me. And by the way, the Constitution is not immutable and unchanging. It even provides the mechanism for its own changing. We're up to how many amendments (read "changes") now? 27?
Thirdly, in theory, your private property rights are guaranteed by the same Constitution that guarantees your RKBA. Your 1st Amendment right to shout obscenities ends at my property line. If you want to stand out in the street and do it, fine (although you could reasonably expect my neighbors to help me kick your ass for it). You have no constitutionally guaranteed right to step onto my property and shout obscenities. You are only allowed to do that
if I permit it. My right to decided whether or not you have that permission is part of my private property rights. Similarly, you have no constitutionally guaranteed right to carry a concealed weapon on my property without my permission, because your RKBA rights stop where they intrude on my private property rights.
So, if I am a business owner, and I own the property upon which my business is conducted, I do have a right to determine a whole array of things concerning the disposition of my property; from what kind of trees I will plant, to whether or not I want others carrying guns on my property.
Let me add that I am waiting at this point for my Texas CHL to arrive in the mail, and I do believe strongly in the RKBA. BUT... the 2nd Amendment is not the entire Constitution, and there are other guaranteed rights there that may at times clash with one another. The clash between property rights and gun rights in this particular instance is a perfect example.
