Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 16:51:59 -0800
From: "SomFord Entertainment@worldnet.att.net"
<SomFord@worldnet.att.net>
To: UNDISCLOSED RECIPIENTS <SOMFORD@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject: SECOND AMENDMENT'S PURPOSE
THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 27, 2000
Page A 26
To the Editor:
Richard Ford's argument (Op-Ed, March 21) ignores a key aspect of the gun control issue: the Bill of Rights. The Second Amendment was not included to protect sport hunters like Mr. Ford and his chums.
Rather, the Second Amendment was specifically intended as a hedge against tyrannical government. The authors of the Bill of Rights clearly intended that all citizens had the right to bear arms, in order to prevent the government from becoming abusive.
It's easy enough to make fun of doomsday cults and criminal gangs that appropriate arguments like this for their own ends, but that doesn't amount to a refutation of those arguments.
If Mr. Ford is certain that the government will never become tyrannical, he is at liberty not to carry arms, but that is a choice he is entitled to make for himself only.
AEON J. SKOBLE
Newburgh, N.Y., March 21, 2000
The writer is visiting assistant professor of philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point.