Liberal writer: Gun owners killing in self-defense deprives attackers' rights to fair trial

A writer for the Huffington Post noted in a recent piece — "A Revision on the Bill of Rights, Part III" — that the Second Amendment certainly gives Americans the right to "carry and have a stockpile of guns."

But Justin Curmi seems to have a bit of an issue with the right to "self-defend with a firearm."

"The main problem with the notion of self-defense is it imposes on justice, for everyone has the right for a fair trial," he writes. "Therefore, using a firearm to defend oneself is not legal because if the attacker is killed, he or she is devoid of his or her rights."

It isn't completely clear if Curmi — who graduated from Baruch College in New York City with a philosophy degree — is indeed waxing philosophic here, as countless cases demonstrate that killing with a firearm in self-defense is perfectly legal. But apart from that, many would scoff at his assertion that attackers lose their fair-trial rights if their victims fatally shoot them.

In the same paragraph, he jumps into "mental capacity" as a "major factor in deciding" if one has the right to have a gun.

"There are two reasons for ensuring mental capacity," Curmi argues. "First, one of the Five Aims is to ensure domestic tranquility and there can be no tranquility if one does not have the capacity. Second, if one’s brain is distorting his or her reality, they do not have the proper reasoning and deduction skills to use a firearm."

Curmi goes on to argue against gun ownership in general.

"A gun for civilians is a weapon for a revolution and not for ordinary use," he writes. "The belief that a gun is a useful tool to protect one is counterintuitive because guns get into the hands of people who use them for horrible reasons."

Let that one sink in for a second.

Curmi concludes with mentions about the difficulty of firing guns in stressful situations, how the U.S. government is lobbied to not study or fund research about the effects of guns and that a study showed classroom participants performed poorly in a mock situation with a gun in a classroom.

(H/T: Allen B. West)