Crime

What would happen if the First Amendment was treated like the Second?

Should the First Amendment be treated like the Second? What would happen?
Should the First Amendment be treated like the Second? What would happen?

Should the First Amendment be regulated like the Second, and if that happened, would there be a resulting public outcry about liberty?

That seems to be the question among Second Amendment advocates reacting to stories that appeared in the Seattle Times regarding concerns from protesters demonstrating against the Ferguson grand jury decision, and allegations that police may have photographed people in the crowd.

One article noted that the Downtown Seattle Association and other Seattle business groups complained to Mayor Ed Murray and the city council about the protests. Protesters took to the streets without permits and “caused significant disruption and impacts to transportation, commerce, jobs, retailers, residents, employees and tax revenues,” the Times reported.

Members of the Seattle chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, described as “an organization of activist-minded law students, legal workers and attorneys,” sent a letter in response to the business community’s concerns. “We are saddened that the Downtown Seattle Association and its partners in the business community do not understand the First Amendment and the right to protest in the most public of places in Seattle — downtown.”

In the other story, about concerns over police photographing protesters gathered at Nike Town, it was noted that under Seattle Police guidelines, “photography at protests is sharply limited.” The Times noted, “If demonstrators are not acting unlawfully, police can’t photograph them.” The story also said that Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole asked for a review of what happened because of “from concerns raised by a reporter for The Stranger newspaper.”

But how does this square with what’s been happening to the Second Amendment? The same people sticking up for protesters were silent or on the other side when voters decided a gun control issue on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Read more about this issue here.

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