There have been a rash of stories lately about various businesses being coerced by force of law to participate in gay marriage ceremonies against the moral objections of the owner. I saw a story last week about a town in Idaho telling two ordained ministers who ran a for-profit wedding chapel that they would have to perform gay marriages or face potential fines and/or jail time.
There was the Hobby Lobby thing last year where the Affordable Care Act was being used to coerce a business into providing abortion inducing drugs against the owner's wishes. There was a story a few days ago where the state of California is about to start requiring churches to cover abortions in their employee's health policies.
There have been any number of things over the years where we've told businesses that if you choose to engage in commerce, you have to comply with X because, well, you engage in commerce with the public, or something. Largely this had to do with civil rights, but also things like the Americans with Disabilities Act and others. However, the gay marriage and abortion proponents seem to have kicked it all up a notch lately, and I am extremely troubled where this is headed.
Anyway, I don't wish to debate the merits of those issues in this thread. But more and more, these stories are making me wonder why we as gun owners continue to give private property rights the benefit of the doubt and defer to the business owners wishes when it comes to the exercise of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. We seem to be the only group willing to do that in America today.
I understand two wrongs don't make a right. I understand I can choose not to patronize an anti-gun business (usually), but so can the gay couple who forced a baker to make them a wedding cake he didn't want to make. I understand private property rights are sacrosanct. I want to believe all that, but is it time we rethought that in the onslaught of all the other things that are going on in the culture lately? When does the "other side" have to be coerced through force of law to respect OUR rights? When does this become a two way street? Was it ever? Should it be?
Thoughts?
There was the Hobby Lobby thing last year where the Affordable Care Act was being used to coerce a business into providing abortion inducing drugs against the owner's wishes. There was a story a few days ago where the state of California is about to start requiring churches to cover abortions in their employee's health policies.
There have been any number of things over the years where we've told businesses that if you choose to engage in commerce, you have to comply with X because, well, you engage in commerce with the public, or something. Largely this had to do with civil rights, but also things like the Americans with Disabilities Act and others. However, the gay marriage and abortion proponents seem to have kicked it all up a notch lately, and I am extremely troubled where this is headed.
Anyway, I don't wish to debate the merits of those issues in this thread. But more and more, these stories are making me wonder why we as gun owners continue to give private property rights the benefit of the doubt and defer to the business owners wishes when it comes to the exercise of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. We seem to be the only group willing to do that in America today.
I understand two wrongs don't make a right. I understand I can choose not to patronize an anti-gun business (usually), but so can the gay couple who forced a baker to make them a wedding cake he didn't want to make. I understand private property rights are sacrosanct. I want to believe all that, but is it time we rethought that in the onslaught of all the other things that are going on in the culture lately? When does the "other side" have to be coerced through force of law to respect OUR rights? When does this become a two way street? Was it ever? Should it be?
Thoughts?
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