Published: October 04, 2009 12:21 am      

What’s in a right?

I look forward to the day when we are no longer considered liberals or conservatives, but simply Americans. I think we are making some progress toward that day, but it is slow.

When I covered the Frostburg-based funeral of J. Glenn Beall Jr., the former U.S. senator, I interviewed those who knew him well. I interviewed them separately, but they all had something in common to say.

There was former U.S. Congresswoman Beverly Byron. There was U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes. There was former Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer. I would have interviewed former U.S. Sen. Charles Mathias, but he wasn’t feeling well that day.

Each of these public servants said they missed the civility that existed between Republicans and Democrats, between liberals and conservatives, that existed in the political world during the time that Beall served. They praised Beall as one of the most civil men they knew.

Now I read in an Associated Press story that bullet manufacturers are having a tough time keeping their product in stock. According to the National Rifle Association, Americans usually purchase about 7 billion rounds of ammo per year, but that figure jumped to 9 billion during the past year.

The AP reported that gun rights advocates say demand for ammunition springs from a fear that President Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress will pass anti-gun legislation, in spite of the fact that the Obama administration has not proposed such legislation and in spite of the fact that the president recently signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.

Not too long ago, during health care reform meetings at Phoenix, Ariz., and at Manchester, N.H., attended by the president, people showed up carrying guns, apparently in an attempt to exercise their rights and to make a point.

Because these people were not breaking the laws of their local jurisdictions or state, none was arrested.

Now flash back to 2005 and rallies for then President George Bush in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and Chambersburg, Pa.

At those rallies, people who were merely carrying signs, signs that protested our involvement in Iraq, were subdued, arrested and detained. At least one lost his job.

It seems to me that in Barack Obama we now have a president who lets us exercise our rights, even the right of carrying a firearm to a rally he is attending, which surely must draw serious attention from those who are sworn to protect the country’s leader.

I’m Mike Sawyers and I approved this column.

Contact Outdoor Editor Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.