Kansas HCR 5006 (Part 2: Natural Rights)
Author illustration using Photoshop 2025, from an initially AI-generated image (DALL-E, using a prompt: “a symbolic illustration of Natural Law”)
This is the second of a three-part series on Kansas HCR 5006, where we are in the process of unpacking a proposed amendment to the state constitution, which seeks to establish no limits on gun and accessories ownership as a “natural right” within the State of Kansas. In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the historical context of the 2nd Amendment; next, we are turning our attention to the concept of “natural rights.”
There are numerous deeply troublesome aspects of this bill, and one of the most jarring is the assertion that owning deadly weapons is one’s “God-given right.” (In case you think that’s hyperbole, check out the Kansas Reflector article linked below, which quotes Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach saying exactly that.)
Natural rights stem from the philosophy of Natural Law, with which the Founders would have been very familiar. In fact, my first book explores Natural Law as a foundational framework for the writers of the U.S. Constitution (Ethics in Fiscal Administration: An Introduction, particularly Chapters 3-4). However, the “natural rights” that were highly esteemed in that time & context included broad humanitarian concepts such as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
That well-known phrase comes straight out of the Declaration of Independence, which claims: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Put another way, “Natural law governs truths that are absolute, universal, and eternal,” as I explained in Ch. 3. “Natural law applies to each person equally; therefore, all people are bound by the same code of moral conduct. Consequently, we owe each other certain considerations, aka., natural rights.” At their core, natural rights should exist outside of the confines of laws, since they are essential to the very nature of humanity and bringing about the common good.
A key aspect of natural rights is that they do not conflict with each other, and if/when they do, then they cease being a right. For instance, you may have the right to free speech, but if you yell, “Fire!” unnecessarily in a crowded auditorium and provoke a panic, you are endangering others, and it is not your right to hurt other people. This is where the audacity of HRC 5006 confounds me! The co-sponsors of this bill seem to believe that owning any amount of weaponry & ammunition is their right under a big-G god.
I don’t know what these people learned in Sunday School, but my religious upbringing taught that God was Love; God was good; God was just. Am I to believe that same divine being who put, “Do not murder” in the list of Top 10 No-Nos also wants us to have unrestricted access to mass-killing machinery?!?
The Red-hatters apparently think so.
Subscribe and read more when we wrap up with Part 3: Strict Scrutiny.
