LETTER: Editorial used free speech to hinder freedom to bear arms

To Ozaukee Press:

The Press editors believe that people carried guns to a recent protest in order to intimidate protestors into not exercising their First Amendment rights of assembly and speech.  I don’t agree with them. But step back for a moment and question the very premise of that argument.

The editorial in last week’s Ozaukee Press argued that it’s improper to use one constitutional right (bearing arms) in order to try and stop other people from exercising another constitutional right (speech).  By their own logic then, their editorial is improper, because they are using one constitutional right (speech) in order to try and stop other people from exercising another constitutional right (bearing arms).

There’s nothing incompatible about the two rights.  They can both be exercised in the same space, as they were at this protest.

Tom Kamenick
Port Washington