And the 1st Amendment.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Yesterday there was a national walk out of high school students to show their frustration for many things.
First and foremost their concerns were the current gun laws, but also it was to show their fear and concern that students in schools are being gunned down and it seems very little is being done to stop it.
Their knowledge or lack of knowledge on the current issue should not be the issue, it should be how thousands of children perceive these laws and are tired of seeing students being shot in schools.
A dog died on a plane trip the other day, and the very next day a US Senator proposed legislation to make sure this doesn't happen again, yet we are told over and over that school safety takes time; that the leaders are speaking about it, coming up with ideas.
Meanwhile there are other shootings.
And the students grow more scared and more frustrated at their perception that nothing is being done.
I'm not saying that I agree with every single person who walked out yesterday and why they did it, but I can tell you that I 100% support civil disobedience.
It seems too often anymore that we don't agree with protests or disobedience unless we agree with the issue that group is protesting and it shouldn't be that way.
Civil discourse is how we talk about our differences and come up with solutions, or at least that is how I believe it should be done.
We see that these students en mass are upset and we should ask "why?"; not attack their wound, but see why that wound occurred.
But I also support a consequence for that civil disobedience.
Agitating and breaking "rules" or "laws" is what brings change. It's that consequence which must be handed out to have effective discourse and change.
Dr. King or Gandhi almost demanded that there be some sort of consequence for any action they took. Agitating the power elite is what motivates the people to examine their way of thinking.
But attacking students because they have a fear of dying (justified or not it's how they feel) and that they perceive that very little is being done is not the answer.
I teach civics and I have tried to get students to understand that we are relatively safe in our school, yet we need to be realistic, and be prepared.
I try to teach students to stand up for what they believe in (an informed belief), but realize there are consequences.
And I try to teach students that they are important and they are the future.
Agree or not, I love the 2nd Amendment, but I also love the 1st Amendment.
For all of us Constitutional scholars, I would hope we could learn to appreciate all of the Constitution and not only those parts we really, really, really agree with or is convenient dependent on our own opinions.
