NRO: Making a hash of the Second Amendment

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/296922/making-hash-second-amendment-robert-verbruggen?pg=1

I don't read much on National Review Online very often, but this headline caught my attention. Not really a long read, but it does include some interesting history of the 2nd Amendment's application as an individual right (as opposed to a societal or "collective" right).

The idea of a collective right is pretty ridiculous, once you think about what it really means.

• A collective right to healthcare means government takes over the healthcare industry.
• A collective right to a job means forced unionization and eventual destruction of private business.
• A collective right to safety means no more guns in private hands, because only the government can be trusted to apply deadly force for the good of society.
• &Etc. A collective right to food, water, shelter, etc. invariably has a big government solution that diminishes or eliminates individual rights.

Yeah, no thanks.

In case some may not have read my intro in the New Members forum, my handle here is a reminder of Winston Smith, the protagonist in Orwell's 1984. Beware of those who tell us the rights of society precede the rights of individuals. The truth is, if individual rights are allowed their proper place, society will be healthy. The 2nd Amendment is one of the things keeping government from interpreting all rights as a means for more government power (i.e., through artificial, collective rights). It's no wonder some big government types are so fond of saying the 2nd Amendment is itself a collective right, despite all the evidence to the contrary.