They consistently oppose attempts by the government to wire tap without warrant, search your car or house without cause, and hold suspects (US citizens) without a criminal charge. They also are on the forefront of freedom of expression.
You may not see it clearly, but all those things are tied to the 2nd amendment. They are part of a package - if the governemnt can tell you who you can sleep with (another ACLU victory), that means thay can look in you house to see with whom you are sleeping. And, while they are at it, check to see if you own firearms. Maybe they don't arrest you for that, maybe they just put it in a database . . .
Some folks do not care how much the government intrudes on their lives - you see this occassionally from true blue law and order types. Now, my brother is a police detective, and I support law and order, but if they can search your house because they suspect that you may have one one marijuana cigarette, once they are in there they can take anything they want as evidence of any crime.
The law is pretty complicated nowadays, so you might be in violation of some minor infraction. And if the policeman is just a little bit bent . . .there is no way of protecting yourself. After all, if you weren't a criminal, you wouldn't have been searched.
You get the idea - if you give too much power to any group, it will ultimately be misused. that is one of the CLEAR lessons of history. By restricting their power, you keep the balance a little bit more to the side of citizens.
There was once a time (not too long ago - within my lifetime) when the government told you who you could not marry, could outlaw contraception, and could hold you indefinitley for 'questioning'. And anything you said after 36 hours under the lights could be used as evidence. And you could be prosecuted for attempting to exercise your rights of free speech (the ACLU got the 1st amendment incorporated, if you were wondering). Furthermore, the post office got to decide what mail you could receive, on grounds of 'indecency', or if it was deemed politically dangerous . At one time the government tried to force people to sign an 'anti-communist affidavit' before they could travel.
The ACLU forced the government's had on all those cases, and many more. The fact that they occasionally (but not the majority of jthe time) defended people who were not in the mainstream (African Americans, communists, gays, racists, the KKK) does not mean that the principles were not sound - the government just felt comfortable pushing around people who were in the minority.
You need to think about how power is distributed, and how the government in general needs to be kept in check. The greatest threat to our country is certainly not terrorists. There are 300 million of us and we have the greatest military in history. No, the greatest threat, as in many countries throughtout history from Rome forward, is excessive power in the hands of the few, in this case the government.
The fact that you can own a revolver is important, but the power of an individual with a firearm is just nothing compared to the power of the state, and it needs to be checked whenever it overreaches. I personally think turning the ACLU to our side would be tantamount to winning the entire debate over private firearms ownership.
