The
blog The Right Side of Austin ran this
commentary titled If Obamacare is Upheld, taken from the blog The Truth About Guns. The main premise of the article, written by James Johnson
and published on June 19, 2012, is that if the government can mandate
healthcare, the government can also mandate guns.
He begins his point by stating that while the right to bear arms is
clearly outlined in the constitution, nowhere in the constitution can
one find the right to healthcare. Proponents of the healthcare reform
bill, he says, justify it by “an extremely warped interpretation of the
commerce clause.” While these statements are true, he could have made
his point much clearer by elaborating on how the healthcare bill was
declared constitutional. It also would have helped if he had given a
rebuttal to the justification of the bill.
Johnson’s next paragraph points out that, after a decision to uphold
the second amendment, crime rates in Chicago dropped substantially. This
observation is beneficial to his point, but Johnson should have given
citations for this information. The evidence is also not enough. Crime
rates dropping in one city will not change a nation’s mind. If he wants
to change things, he should utilize the plethora of evidence out there.
Johnson goes on to say that the fact that “an armed citizenry is the
first line of defense” completely justifies a government mandate to bear
arms. Once again, he gives no examples or evidence for his point. The
point itself is a bit far-fetched. While an armed citizenry may in fact
be a nation’s first line of defense, that cannot in itself rationalize a
government mandate for every citizen to bear arms.
I believe that while Mr. Johnson presented a novel idea, he could have been
much more convincing had he offered better arguments and more evidence.
