Friday, September 18, 2015

Does Carson get the 2nd?

Dr Ben Carson gets the 2nd amendment.  Full disclosure, I am a casual Ben Carson supporter that will continue to keep a watchful eye on the presidential hopeful.  Dr Carson has been criticized for his stance on gun rights because of a 2013 interview conducted by Glen Beck.  Beck conducted a rapid fire question session and asked "Do I have the right to own a semi automatic weapon?" and Carson replied "It depends on where you live. I think if you live in the midst of a lot of people and I’m afraid that that semi-automatic weapon might fall into the hands of a crazy person, I would rather you not have it. If you live out in the country somewhere by yourself, I have no problem.”
Since the 2013 Beck interview Dr Carson has had a lot of speaking engagements to include an appearance at the NRA convention in Nashville in 2015.  Carson supports the 2nd amendment
“This isn’t any evolution of my views, just that I’ve learned how to express myself..."
Dr Carson started his speech by saying: “This isn’t any evolution of my views, just that I’ve learned how to express myself, I assumed everyone knew what I was talking about when I was saying something . . . but the world of politics is different from the world of medicine. Just recently, Chris Cuomo was trying to trick me and he ended up looking like a fool. Just for the record, let me be extremely clear, I am extremely pro–2nd Amendment, no question about it,” As Carson continued, he obviously understands why the 2nd amendment is necessary. "having a population that is defenseless against a group of tyrants who have arms. And that is what we have to bear in mind.”
On April 10, 2015 Carson was interviewed by Brietbart about guns and the 2nd amendment.  
"The 2nd Amendment is incredibly important for a couple of reasons. Number one, our Founders felt that our nation, if ever invaded by outside forces, would be much stronger if the people could help repel those forces. Number two, and perhaps even more importantly, is if the government–our own government–ever became tyrannical, and wanted to dominate the people, the 2nd Amendment guarantees the people the means whereby to defend themselves."
The Dr also submitted an opinion on the real purpose of the 2nd amendment:
"The real purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to allow citizens to be able to protect themselves against an overly aggressive government. In order to do that, they need to have any kind of weapon that they may have, legally. And that includes semiautomatic weapons.
So, if the source that is trying to dominate you has those weapons, but you don’t have them–if all you have are pea-shooters–then your defense of yourself is not going to be very effective."
One thing remains to be seen on the doctors position, where does he sand on constitutional carry?  I will continue to dig deeper and report back what I find.  If you have any documentation on his position please let me know by emailing me.