JB Pritzker’s statement on the Highland Park shooting
By: Steve Troyanovich
Speaking at a press conference regarding the recent Highland Park, Illinois July 4th parade shooting, Governor J.B. Pritzker stated, “Our founding fathers carried muskets, not assault weapons. And I don’t think a single one of them would have said ‘you have a constitutional right to an assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine.”
Our governor couldn’t be more mistaken regarding our founding fathers. Those founding fathers were suspicious of the tyranny of strong centralized government. The 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution described the right of the people to bear arms so as to be able to protect themselves against a tyrannical government.
Pritzker’s statement that the founding fathers carrying muskets would argue against modern people’s right to have access to assault weapons demonstrates his ignorance of history and the intent of the 2nd Amendment.
The 2nd Amendment states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The weapon of the government at the time of the founding fathers were muskets—precisely the reason the people should have access to those weapons—so that they were equally armed against a government (foreign or domestic) that might choose to infringe upon the security of the freedom of the people.
Invoking the muskets of the founding fathers to argue against the people’s right to own rifles is a fallacious argument and smacks of the governor’s ignorance regarding our nation’s history and the intent of our founding fathers in crafting our nation’s bill of rights.
The people of Illinois deserve a governor that understands our nation’s history, the context of our nation’s constitution and one that will be faithful to his oath to uphold that constitution. The root causes of violence against innocent people lies with the evil person perpetrating such violence. Blaming the weapon is akin to blaming a fork for a person being overweight.
