To say that ObamaCare is controversial is like saying that Grace Kelly was attractive; it doesn’t begin to to capture the depth and breadth of the point being made. And probably the most controversial aspect of healthcare nationalization is the requirement – under penalty of law – that individuals buy health insurance. The constitutionality of that particular issue is moving inexorably toward resolution by the Supreme Court. Opponents argue that if you can tell people they have to buy insurance, there’s no limit to the requirements with which government can saddle them. James Johnson, in a letter to the editor of syracuse.com, takes the idea of an individual mandate to the next logical level suggesting that Americans also be required to purchase a gun. Full text of the letter after the jump…
To the Editor:
There is nothing in the Constitution that guarantees a citizen the right to health care. Yet the Obama administration passed a law that contains an individual mandate for citizens to purchase health care. The justification is an extremely warped interpretation of the commerce clause.
In contrast, the Second Amendment guarantees the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Heller decision affirming Second Amendment rights, violent crimes plummeted in Chicago. Murder fell by 14 percent, robberies using guns fell by 25 percent and assaults using guns fell by 37 percent.
Also, an armed citizenry is the first line of defense. Based on this, the Republicans in the House should introduce legislation that all citizens who can pass a background check be mandated to purchase a firearm. There is far more justification for this mandate based on the Second Amendment than for the Obamacare mandate, no matter how you try to stretch the commerce clause.
This may not get through the Democratic Senate or past President Obama. If nothing else though, it may give the liberals on the Supreme Court something to think about. After all, there may come a day when the Republicans control both houses of Congress and the presidency. If the government can make us buy health care insurance against our will, there is nothing to stop them from mandating purchase of a firearm.
James Johnson
Baldwinsville