Dear Editor:

In an online discussion attached to my wife’s letter concerning abortion and the hypocrisy of the anti Second Amendment crowd, one person commented that abortion is a Constitutional right. Yes, dear contributor, we all know abortion is constitutionally protected under the 14th Amendment.

The 14th Amendment was also cited by the Supreme Court in its recent decision on same sex marriage. This decision means that same sex marriage is recognized in all 50 states, whether the people in those states voted for it or not. Cue the parades and rainbow Facebook profile pics.

So here we have two cases where the Supreme Court made their ruling and supporters use that at every turn to silence debate. “It’s the law of the land,” they say. “The Supreme Court said it’s so,” they exclaim.

Then we get to the issue of firearms and everything changes. Despite the fact the right to keep and bear arms is guaranteed by its own amendment, one important enough to be second in the minds of the framers, opponents insist on infringing on those rights. In 2008 the Supreme Court ruled that the rights set forth in the Second Amendment are individual rights not collective. If the “it’s the law of the land” argument works in the first two cases, then it also applies to guns. You can’t have it both ways folks so quit the infringements.

Linc Sample

Boothbay Harbor