Bill O'Reilly interviewed the founder of "Oathkeepers" This is a group of current and former military, police and fire fighters who claim they have banded together to defend the Constitution. "Oathkeepers" have sworn to not obey any government orders that are unconstitutional. O'Reilly was attempting to paint the group as extremist and asked for an example. Stewart Rhodes used the example of New Orleans police entering peoples homes and confiscating their guns during hurricane Katrina, due to what he categorized as "bad weather." O'Reilly cited the looting in the city and seemed perfectly OK with private citizens having their 2nd Amendment rights removed anytime the government wants to declare an emergency. O'Reilly is completely off base here. Disarming law-abiding citizens when mobs of dangerous looters are running amok on the streets is not only a violation of our Constitutional rights; it is downright insane.
Bill O'Reilly Supports Gun Confiscation During Weather Emergencies (video)
4 comments:
Bill O'Reilly must have been sucking down too many decongestants. He disappoints me, because he is very wrong and terribly off base. Disarming law-abiding citizens in violation of the 2nd Amendment is not the way to protect citizens. When law enforcement is unavailable, on assignment elsewhere, protecting their own loved ones, or looting stores in New Orleans(as seen on TV) the only recourse left to the citizenry may be self defense. Perhaps the glib Mr. O'Reilly could talk his way out of a robbery or home invasion, but most of us would rather rely on a 12 gauge.
Yeah, O'Reilly thinks only he knows best.
I would rather rely on myself for protection.This time O'Reilly is misguided.
Oh Bill, allowing for "emergencies" is such a subjective variable. Nixon almost declared a state of emergency during his reign because he didn't like the anti-war protesters. What's to stop a politician in power from simply declaring that we are in war on terrorism and that's an emergency? Fear is a powerful tool our leaders try to manipulate the populace with. And now the weather.
One complaint I do have though is that the media continues to perpetuate myths about what went on during Katrina. Yes, there was some looting but most was highly exaggerated. I was a tourist stuck in the Superdome and we believed the rumors of rapes, murders, and helicopters shootings, but in reality weeks later the authorities could not substantiate any of those. Regardless, I'll gladly take Bill's guns if he doesn't want them.
Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"
Yup, I’m done with O’Reilly too. He’s just too willing to “compromise” the law if he “thinks” it’s wrong. He disagreed with the Weihl lawyer lady the night before about the ruling re. the 17yr old girl performing “art” even though she was reading from “the LAW” too. Either someone believes in the rule of law or not. Don’t like it, work to change the law. But don’t criticize a judge that actually rules IAW the law vs being an activist and making law from the bench. In the Oathkeepers segment, O’Reilly mentioned that the Constitution allows the President to suspend Habeaus Corpus seemingly as justification for suspension of fundamental rights during emergencies. WRONG! First, the authorization for suspension of the Writ of Habeaus Corpus is found in Article I, Sec. 9. Art. I deals with Legislative powers. Second, it specifically states “…shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of REBELLION OR INVASION [emphasis mine] the public safety MAY [emphasis mine] require it.” So, the President has no such power. And, if public safety is the overriding government consideration, I would argue that the peaceable, law-abiding public would be LESS SAFE if denied their God-given, fundamental human right to self-defense. He even admitted that there were gangs of looters and criminals running around armed at that time. So, public safety is increased by disarming the peaceable, law-abiding citizens such as the OLD LADY that was IN HER HOME with a small revolver and was criminally assaulted by illegitimate government thugs and disarmed!? That’s nuts if you ask me. No government on the face of the Earth has the LEGITIMATE authority to disarm the people. “… all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the ….” Since all men (including women!) have the Right to Life then they logically have the Right to defend that Life. O’Reilly is an elitist and he’s grown increasingly arrogant as his ratings have increased. We can get his attention if we can effectively bring his ratings down significantly. He’s definitely NOT “looking out” for the people! Nor is he supporting the US Constitution except when he “thinks” it’s right. You cannot pick and choose when or what parts you support. You either support it all or you risk loss of all protections found therein. Sorry for being so verbose.
Paladin
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