A Chinese music student was convicted on Thursday of U.S. charges that he harassed an activist who posted fliers at the Berklee College of Music in Boston supporting democracy in China and threatened to report her activities to Chinese law enforcement.
A federal jury in Boston found Xiaolei Wu, 25, who sent the activist online messages saying he would chop off her hands and demanding she tear down her “reactionary posters,” guilty at the end of a four-day trial.
If I have a gun but the government doesn’t care, am I not exercising my 2a rights?
No, you are not.
You have a right to not be unduly burdened by the government in owning or procuring a gun.
It does not follow that because the government is not allowed to arbitrarily restrict your ability to own a gun, you therefor have a “right to own a gun”. For example, if you do not own a gun, and everyone who does own a gun doesn’t want to give/sell you a gun, your 2a rights were not violated.
……
Putting up a lost cat flyer, and having some random person yell at you for it is not exercising the “right to free speech” (for either party).
You have a right to not be unduly burdened by the government in speech/expression.
It does not follow that because the government is not allowed to arbitrarily restrict your speech/expression, you therefor have a right to speech/expression in all contexts. For example, if you want to go on a rant about your personal beliefs, the government unduly burdened you. However this will not stop the owner of the grocery store from calling the cops to have you trespassed for bothering all of the customers.
First, my right and my ability to exercise it are two different things. My being too poor also doesn’t impinge on my right to own a gun, but it certainly affects my ability to do so. Moreover, you are focusing on the example and not the law itself. I can as easily exercise my right to bear arms by finding a big stick or a suitable rock. Further, exercising my right doesn’t require the government to restrict it in order for it to exist. And, of course, violation of my rights would generally require the government to be involved.
As far as speech is concerned, yes, I’m exercising my right to free speech if I say anything in a public space, including asking you if you’ve seen my lost cat. It likely wasn’t going to be infringed in that particular example. This still doesn’t allow me to go on private property and ask people about my cat.
Rights don’t have to be at threat to be rights. A right is “something that one may properly claim as due.” Note that there is nothing there which requires it to be threatened.
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No, you are not.
You have a right to not be unduly burdened by the government in owning or procuring a gun.
It does not follow that because the government is not allowed to arbitrarily restrict your ability to own a gun, you therefor have a “right to own a gun”. For example, if you do not own a gun, and everyone who does own a gun doesn’t want to give/sell you a gun, your 2a rights were not violated.
……
Putting up a lost cat flyer, and having some random person yell at you for it is not exercising the “right to free speech” (for either party).
You have a right to not be unduly burdened by the government in speech/expression.
It does not follow that because the government is not allowed to arbitrarily restrict your speech/expression, you therefor have a right to speech/expression in all contexts. For example, if you want to go on a rant about your personal beliefs, the government unduly burdened you. However this will not stop the owner of the grocery store from calling the cops to have you trespassed for bothering all of the customers.
First, my right and my ability to exercise it are two different things. My being too poor also doesn’t impinge on my right to own a gun, but it certainly affects my ability to do so. Moreover, you are focusing on the example and not the law itself. I can as easily exercise my right to bear arms by finding a big stick or a suitable rock. Further, exercising my right doesn’t require the government to restrict it in order for it to exist. And, of course, violation of my rights would generally require the government to be involved.
As far as speech is concerned, yes, I’m exercising my right to free speech if I say anything in a public space, including asking you if you’ve seen my lost cat. It likely wasn’t going to be infringed in that particular example. This still doesn’t allow me to go on private property and ask people about my cat.
Rights don’t have to be at threat to be rights. A right is “something that one may properly claim as due.” Note that there is nothing there which requires it to be threatened.