Joe the Plumber Said ‘Your Dead Kids Don’t Trump My Constitutional Rights.’ Could He Be Right?

By Robert A. Levy Robert A. Levy

Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher did himself (and gun advocates) no favors when he wrote “your dead kids don’t trump my constitutional rights.”

He posted those incendiary words soon after Elliot Rodger went on a killing rampage in California, killing six people, three with a knife and three with a gun. In the weeks since, there has been more gun violence, most recently in Oregon.

“He incited near universal furor. But is there a kernel of truth to that claim?”

To be fair, Wurzelbacher’s letter — directed to the parents of the gunshot victims — was replete with expressions of sympathy; but those civilities were undermined by his indelicate and insensitive harangue against Richard Martinez, whose son was among the murdered. Martinez had attacked “craven, irresponsible politicians” and the National Rifle Association for his son’s death.

Not surprisingly, the media have focused on Wurzelbacher’s rabble-rousing dictum that public safety — even if kids are mowed down by guns — is subordinate to Second Amendment rights. What should we make of that claim? Is there a kernel of truth in defense of Joe the Plumber?

Let’s start with this proposition: Constitutionally guaranteed rights are not absolute. For example, the First Amendment …Read the Rest

Source:: Cato Institute