2.05 The Bill of Rights

I am reaching out to you concerning the constitutional rights of the American people. I feel that rights are not absolute, meaning that anybody can't go around doing whatever they want. If they were to commit a crime, or do something bad, then their rights would be restricted to that specific instance. The government may also limit rights in order to protect the public, if for some reason that would be needed. For example, the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech. However, you can’t go out into the streets violently threatening everyone you come across. The Constitution protects things such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to keep and bear arms, etc.

There is an issue in my community that I would like to bring to your attention. Recently we were forced, by the government, to evacuate our homes here and temporarily re-locate to storm shelters. However, there were countless amounts of people who were denied the right to bring their legally owned firearms with them to the shelters. I have a concern with this, as I feel this is a violation of the Second Amendment. This amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms, as long as they are doing this in a lawful way, which in this instance they are. The only reason they had them in the first place was to protect them in case they were ever faced with danger. Now I understand that there probably are people that would be freaked out by people bringing in their own firearms to the shelters, however steps could be taken to benefit both sides. The way I think that could be done is that the people bringing their personally owned firearms would need to take the precautions to ensure that they are secured in the shelter and will not cause any harm to those there. That way everybody is safe, and the firearms are there if needed for self-defense. As I said before, the Second Amendment protects people to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, such as self-defense, and I feel here that people are being violated of that right. Thank you for your time.

In conclusion, I feel that rights are very important, that in order for a country to properly operate, they are needed. The Constitution/Bill of Rights are very important and need to be followed in order for our country to run the way it is supposed to be. However, when people are robbed of their rights, this can’t happen. Thank you for your time.