"No Amendment in the Constitution is Absolute"

Joe Biden gave his big speech about his gun control executive actions last week. During that speech he stated that "No Amendment in the Constitution is absolute." Such dangerous words for a President to utter. Every law in our country is based on the Constitution. The President himself swore an oath to the Constitution when he was sworn in as President. The oath states, "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." And now he feels that it is subject to be changed as he pleases? That the hundreds of years it has held up as law of the land are meaningless? Biden has acted like more of a dictator than President in his short time in office. As of April 8th he has signed 48 executive orders. More than the last three Presidents by this time in office. He's only had one press conference so far, and there is no set date to give the state of the Union, most Presidents have given this speech in February and Biden has yet to say when this may happen. When he speaks to the press he often refuses to answer or even take questions. He also rambles and seems confused, quite often, about the facts of what he is talking about.

The Constitution, signed on September 17th, 1787, would become the law of the land of the United States. The main points of the Constitution were to limit government, protect rights, separation of powers, and to provide checks and balances for the government. It is comprised of 27 amendments. The first two amendments, which held great importance to the framers were; the freedom of religion, speech, petition and assembly, and the right to keep and bear arms.

Biden now thinks the second amendment, the right to keep and bear arms is up for question. Even though this has been debated by the supreme court over the years and the court has always upheld the right to keep and bear arms, un-infringed.

Amendments can be proposed to the Constitution by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the States request one, by a convention called for that purpose.

The amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the State legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each State for ratification. Not by executive action. Biden, nor any other President, can make changes to the Constitution on their own.

Attempting to alter the right to bear arms has been tried by several Democratic Presidents and has almost always been prevented by the Supreme Court. In 1994 an assault weapon and high capacity magazine ban was put in place by Congress under President Clinton. The Supreme Court upheld this ban during several legal challenges. The law had a 10 year life span and ended in 2004. Rulings by the Supreme Court since on firearm possession have called into question as to whether a ban like that would stand now. A 2017 review found this ban had little to no effect on firearm homicides. A 2014 study by Oxford University also found the was no compelling evidence that the ban saved lives. In 2004 the National Institute of Justice found the ban had little effect because assault weapons are not used in most gun crimes.

It is dangerous language for the leader of our country to say that Amendments to our Constitution are not absolute. It may be guns today but tomorrow it could be freedom of speech, freedom of religion or the right to a fair trial. Leadership and beliefs on how this country should be ran and whats important come and go. Our laws, protections and rights cannot be left at the whim of each new leader elected to office. They need to be and have been steady and solid. This is why the process to add or detract from the Constitution is a complex one. This is why a single person in power cannot effect these kinds of changes alone.

The President and other elected officials serve the people, not just the people of their party but ALL of the people. They need to keep this in mind when they are considering laws and amendments which effect our freedoms. Freedoms that were establish with good reason, hundreds of years ago. We need to hold leaders accountable to protect our freedoms, our basic freedoms that at times we may not agree with, but collectively realize the importance of having for all of us as a free country and free people.

If laws are being broken, then the law breakers, should be punished. Not the law abiding citizens of this country. In the last twenty years many of our freedoms have been eroded in the name of safety and security. This is a lazy approach or just an excuse to give the government more power and strip freedoms from the people. We have laws to punish criminal behavior and they should be used. They should be enforced.

The Constitution, Mr.President, IS absolute, it IS the law of the land, you are not.