The Republic Is Not Lost

It's been way too long since my last "Compare and Contrast" post. Please, allow me to remedy that situation.

Nantucket:

Essay winners tackle right to bear arms

Samantha Pillion and Stephanie Norris, first- and second-place winners in the annual Macomber Essay contest, found themselves writing about the Second Amendment – the right to bear arms – at an interesting time in our country’s history, given the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings where 32 people were killed by a fellow student.

“The Second Amendment was never designed to say to a student that you can walk into a gun store in Virginia and buy a Glock,” said former Nantucket District Court Judge W. James O’Neill, who was on-island last week to award the Nantucket High School seniors checks in the amount of $1,000 and $500, respectively.

“Stephanie and Samantha gave a good analysis of the Second Amendment and the use of weapons so prolific in this country. No one in my generation has the courage to stand up to the powerful gun lobbies,” O’Neill continued.

“I challenge you children to have the courage to act on the wisdom shown in your essays,” added O’Neill during the presentation. “Semi-automatic handguns were never intended in the spirit of the amendment. We cannot tolerate the amount of violence generated by handguns.

New Hampshire:

From a Bill of Rights project hanging on the wall of the main corridor of an elementary school in New Hampshire, which for obvious reasons*, shall remain nameless.



Bonus pic from the same display (too good not to share).



The Republic is not lost.

* I wouldn't want to get any teachers in trouble for committing the grievous offense of teaching our children about the concepts of individual liberty, Constitutional rights, and personal responsibility.