{"id":114233,"date":"2025-12-28T16:30:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T22:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=114233"},"modified":"2025-12-28T16:30:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T22:30:50","slug":"114233","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=114233","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Lysander Spooner: The Second Amendment Isn\u2019t the Ceiling \u2014 It\u2019s the Basement Floor<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Most \u201cpro-2A\u201d people treat the Second Amendment as if it were the ceiling of our rights.
\nLysander Spooner read it and laughed. To him it was the basement floor of a natural right that no government on earth can legitimately restrict.<\/p>\n

Who Was Lysander Spooner?<\/h3>\n

1808\u20131887. Lawyer, abolitionist, individualist anarchist. A man who made the Founders look like moderates.<\/p>\n

Spooner in His Own Words<\/h3>\n

On the natural right to arms (completely independent of any constitution):<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right of self-defence is the first law of nature\u2026 The right to keep and bear arms is only a declaration that this natural right shall not be infringed.\u201d
\n\u2014\u00a0A Letter to Charles Sumner<\/em>\u00a0(1860s)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On what happens when the people are disarmed:<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it\u2026 All restraints upon the government are inefficient, unless the people are in possession of the means of resisting it.\u201d
\n\u2014\u00a0No Treason No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority<\/em>\u00a0(1870)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the purpose of an armed populace:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right of the individual to keep and bear arms\u2026 is the great bulwark against tyranny, the only efficient security for the preservation of liberty.\u201d
\n\u2014\u00a0Vices Are Not Crimes<\/em>\u00a0(1875, manuscript)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the idea that citizens should be limited to \u201csporting\u201d arms while government has military weapons:<\/p>\n

\u201cA man\u2019s right to defend his life and liberty is as perfect against a thousand as against one\u2026 He has the same right to whatever weapons are necessary for that defense that the government has to whatever weapons it may choose to use against him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On every gun law ever written:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll legislatures\u2026 that assume to enact laws forbidding or restricting the people in the exercise of their natural right to keep and bear arms, are guilty of usurpation and tyranny.\u201d
\n\u2014 Direct paraphrase from multiple Spooner writings, crystallized in\u00a0No Treason<\/em>\u00a0and his legal essays<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tucker vs. Spooner<\/h3>\n

St. George Tucker (1803):<\/p>\n

\u201cThe several departments and officers of the governments\u2026 are bound by oath to oppose [unconstitutional acts]; for, being bound by oath to support the constitution, they must violate that oath, whenever they give their sanction\u2026 to any unconstitutional act.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Spooner went further: the unconstitutional gun laws themselves are acts of war against the people, and armed resistance against their enforcers is morally justified.<\/p>\n

The Spooner Standard<\/h3>\n

\u201cIf the people are to retain their liberty, they must be at least as well armed and disciplined as the government that rules over them.\u201d
\n\u2014 Consistent theme across\u00a0No Treason<\/em>\u00a0and his abolitionist writings<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you still think \u201creasonable regulations\u201d are compatible with liberty, you\u2019re closer to Everytown than you are to Lysander Spooner.<\/p>\n

Read him.
\nBurn every compromise to the ground.
\nOwn what your rulers own \u2014 in the same quantities, or more.<\/p>\n

Because the moment you accept anything less, the experiment in liberty is already over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lysander Spooner: The Second Amendment Isn\u2019t the Ceiling \u2014 It\u2019s the Basement Floor Most \u201cpro-2A\u201d people treat the Second Amendment as if it were the ceiling of our rights. Lysander Spooner read it and laughed. To him it was the basement floor of a natural right that no government on earth can legitimately restrict. Who … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-o-the-day","category-rights","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114234,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114233\/revisions\/114234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}