What if the “Pursuit of Pleasure” was in the Bill of Rights?

This is another irreverent thought I had during snow sculpting.

The Second Amendment’s defense has been financed by gun manufacturers for decades now much as the fight against nationalized health was financed by Doctors. The latter is no longer the case. Doctors have come to their senses and realize some sort of socialized medicine makes sense. Not so the National Rifle Association.

When I was a kid the NRA (gun manufacturers) warned that we needed our guns to thwart the Red Menace (Commies). Somehow all the gun owners would unite like the militias of old. When that argument paled it was the protection of the home from the much feared criminal class. We would need guns to protect our castles.

Now we need guns on our hips to protect us from predators in our midst. The NRA which has managed to sell as many guns as there are Citizens of the US wants us all armed in case a random shooter starts banging away. Boy would I love to be in a dark theater with a hundred well armed conceal and carriers when a lone gunman starts shooting up the place. Geez when a dozen police start shooting at a bad guy there’s no telling how many innocent citizens will get shot up in friendly fire.

Ah but we have a Second Amendment to make it impossible to rationally pull back from the arms race the NRA has helped foster. So what, I wondered, would the Tobacco Lobby have managed if the pursuit of happiness was a right. Tobacco makes people happy. The Pursuit Amendment would guarantee smoking rights and snoose rights. Efforts to curtail tobacco products would be dead in the water. Poor Big Tobacco. The needed an amendment.

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