April 8, 2013 by David K. Sutton
Quote: Lawrence O’Donnell – Gun Rights Are In Conflict With The Right To Life
“The government is now populated by some who hold the right to bear arms higher than the right to life.”
On Monday’s “Last Word,” Lawrence O’Donnell delivered an excellent soliloquy on the conflict between gun rights and the right to life:
The right to life is self-evident, so said our Founding Fathers. — ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident.’ — The first right the Founding Fathers mentioned was the right to life. Rights can come into conflict with other rights. My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins. The right to bear arms, if it is to be interpreted as an individual right, can come into conflict with your right to life.
The right for Nancy Lanza to bear arms, her right to own arms, her right to share her arms with her gravely disturbed son, came into conflict with 26 individuals’ rights to life in Sandy Hook Elementary. Rights that were snuffed out by the legally obtained assault weapon, and the legally obtained high-capacity magazines that Nancy Lanza’s son used to kill her, and then kill 20 children and 6 adults in an elementary school.
Government’s job is to balance those rights. The government is now populated by some who hold the right to bear arms higher than the right to life.
– Lawrence O’Donnell, “The Last Word,” 04/08/2013
