# Yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater vs. Trying to prevent people opening fire in a crowded theater **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 24, 2012, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-vs-trying-to-prevent-people-opening-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/644992 "2012-12-24T07:39:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-vs-trying-to-prevent-people-opening-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/644992/1 "2012-12-24T07:39:33Z")
Okay, so the Second Amendment says that owning a firearm is a protected right. So is freedom of speech. So why is there [a whole Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions) showing dozens of exceptions and limitations for free speech? As far as I can tell, there isn’t a single right bestowed upon us that is completely absolute… You have freedom of religion but try handling snakes. You have freedom to peaceably assemble, but let’s see you do it during rush hour in midtown Manhattan. You have freedom to vote but let’s see what happens if you try and vote closer to your office instead of your home when that’s a different precinct. Why is the right to own guns sacrosanct when there isn’t a single other right bestowed upon Americans that can make the same claim? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-vs-trying-to-prevent-people-opening-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/644992/2 "2012-12-24T07:59:00Z")
The right to bear arms is limited just like the right to free speech. Notice you can’t own a thermonuclear missile. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-vs-trying-to-prevent-people-opening-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/644992/3 "2012-12-24T08:03:01Z")
Just so. The right to bear arms is accompanied by a multitude of restrictions and regulations, just as with all the rights mentioned in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-vs-trying-to-prevent-people-opening-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/644992/4 "2012-12-24T11:23:48Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > Why is the right to own guns sacrosanct when there isn’t a single other right bestowed upon Americans that can make the same claim? It isn’t, not as far as SCOTUS is concerned. The [Heller decision](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller), much reviled by the gun control tribe, says as much: > [@](#): > > Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Reasonable restrictions, those that don’t amount to a total ban, can be debated and installed as law, IMO (and the opinion of those lesser minds on SCOTUS :D). I think that we should debate what restrictions would be effective. I’m all for it. I do see the gun rights tribe’s point, though, that much of what has been rashly proposed would seem to produce zero impact. Banning features that look scary, that kind of thing. So, what specifically do you propose as a reasonable restriction, one that respects the second amendment? My recollection of your perspective on CU debates was that since no right is absolute, we can more or less enact whatever restrictions we collectively want. That’s not how the Constitution works, however. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-vs-trying-to-prevent-people-opening-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/644992/5 "2012-12-24T12:00:02Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > Okay, so the Second Amendment says that owning a firearm is a protected right. > > So is freedom of speech. So why is there [a whole Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions) showing dozens of exceptions and limitations for free speech? > > As far as I can tell, there isn’t a single right bestowed upon us that is completely absolute… You have freedom of religion but try handling snakes. You have freedom to peaceably assemble, but let’s see you do it during rush hour in midtown Manhattan. You have freedom to vote but let’s see what happens if you try and vote closer to your office instead of your home when that’s a different precinct. > > Why is the right to own guns sacrosanct when there isn’t a single other right bestowed upon Americans that can make the same claim? > [@](#): > > As far as I can tell, there isn’t a single right bestowed upon us that is completely absolute… You’re answering you own question(s). ---
**Author:** ![opmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9d8465/32.png) [@opmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/opmike)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-vs-trying-to-prevent-people-opening-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/644992/6 "2012-12-25T13:10:16Z")
Gun ownership in this country isn’t unrestricted. Try to get your hands on something like the select-fire version of the FN SCAR, or open carry your CCW in a government building, and see how successful you are. Now, whether there is an appropriate level of restriction, then, there are probably about ten other active threads here debating the same thing.