Constitutional Rights
...e’s rights responsibly includes expressing one’s opinion in a friendly way. Although prayer is usually meant in the best intentions, organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State believe there’s another, less innocent message being expressed. “When people stand up and chant in unison they’re saying to religious minorities that the majority rules.” (Richards, Sarah, 92). Separation of church and state seems to draw people to either one end of the political spectrum or the other; however this is not the only Amendment in question. The 2nd Amendment states that, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” With this the court concluded that the 2nd Amendment does not protect the right of any individual to possess firearms because it was drafted in the Constitution to preserve the right of state governments to arm their militias. The opposing side argues that more gun control could be achieved if the courts accepted a different interpretation of the Constitution, one similar to what the NRA holds true. The NRA believes that the 2nd Amendment gives individuals a constitutional right “to privately posses and bear their own firearms.” (Jacobs, James B., 15). As with owning a firearm, one must realize that responsibility and maturity are important qualities in order to be looked at respectively. Being responsible with a firearm could be defined as being aware of the consequences of one’s actions, and accepting the responsibilities thereafter. An example of being irresponsible may be committing a racist act with a firearm. For the 2nd Amendment to have any real meaning, courts will have to treat the right to bear arms as a fundamental right that the government cannot infringe on. But what if one’s opinions and thoughts were never even heard? The 1st Amendment protects an American’s right to free speech and to protest one’s government. Now with this right comes the question of how far can one really go? Central Park, in New York, has for a long time been the logical place for mass gatherings. For example, in 1995 Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass that drew more than 130,000 and in 1997 country singer Garth Brooks played a concert for a crowd of 250,000, so it isn’t as if the park hasn’t seen mass amounts of people before. This was however up until city officials persuaded a federal judge to keep the park off limits. The Bill of Rights clearly states that “The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances…” therefore giving reason enough for the right to protest in Central Park. To one’s surprise, one of the city’s main concerns is that the protestors will tear up the “Great Lawn” which was reconstructed in 1997 for a cost of more than $18 mill...