Corinne Mosher, a Kansas State Rifle Association training committee member and professional competitive shooter, answers the question: What does the Second Amendment mean to you?
“The American Founding Fathers used their negative experiences from living under British rule to form the blueprints for a country where the government’s power is restricted by the rights of the people.
“This blueprint, known as the Bill of Rights, spelled out the actions they felt should be prohibited by a government, while proclaiming great American ideals such as the freedom to speak out against your government without fearing reprisal, the freedom to peaceably practice the religion of your choosing, the right of every citizen to a fair trial and protection from unreasonable searches or confiscation of personal property at the whim of the government.
“The Second Amendment is the security clause embedded in this list of keystone principles that ensures the protection of all others. The American Revolution fighters had to break the law of the land to fight for freedoms they believed were endowed by a power eclipsing the authority of any government. Once they had won these freedoms, they prepared a way to ensure no American would be left without the means of protecting them. That surety is given to us in the Second Amendment. It wasn’t written to be a stand-alone right; it is the means of protecting ALL of our rights. That is what the Second Amendment means to me.”
