…………… it preserves and guarantees pre-existing individual rights. How do we know this? The Ninth Amendment states:

“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
In other words, we have other rights beyond what is expressly stated in the Constitution, and the federal government is not justified in denying us those rights.

What could those rights be? Although, this Web site is not for the purpose of discussing natural and positive rights, below are quotes from two Founding Fathers telling us that the right to self-defense is a natural right, it cannot be justifiably taken away by any governing body.

“I go farther; and now proceed to show, that in peculiar instances, in which those rights can receive neither protection nor reparation from civil government, they are, notwithstanding its institution, entitled still to that defence, and to those methods of recovery, which are justified and demanded in a state of nature.”

“The defence of one’s self, justly called the primary law of nature, is not, nor can it be abrogated by any regulation of municipal law.”
— James Wilson, Wilson, Of the Natural Rights of Individuals, in 2 The Works of James Wilson 335 (J.D. Andrews ed. 1896).
The above quote is from a series of lectures given between 1790 and 1792.

“Resistance to sudden violence, for the preservation not only of my person, my limbs, and life, but of my property, is an indisputable right of nature which I have never surrendered to the public by the compact of society, and which perhaps, I could not surrender if I would.”
— John Adams, Boston Gazette, Sept. 5, 1763,reprinted in 3 The Works of John Adams 438 (Charles F. Adams ed., 1851).
We have many, many natural rights not enumerated by law. Think about it! (Of course, we have responsibilities as well).

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !