“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

--The First Amendment

In recent news we have all heard about protests stemming from this presidential election season. I have purposely avoided writing about these things specifically because, one: We are all sick of hearing about politics, and two: I firmly believe that the amount of media coverage given to what most people thought were just ridiculous stamens made by a mad man, have made said mad man the most likely front runner of a certain political party. Now I would like to say a few things about threats facing certain amendment rights.

I would like to focus on this person (who I will not name, again, for the sake of not perpetuating an already obvious problem). We all know who I am talking about. My main worries about this man stem from his threats towards our first amendment rights. He has already said that, if elected president, he will “open up libel laws” allowing himself to sue the media and “win lots of money.” This is a problem, and yet a huge chunk of our population is still voting for him.

On top of this, during a rally in Las Vegas he said that he wanted to punch a protester in the face after the man disrupted. Though the man he was referring to may not have been protesting peacefully, this response is similar to many others we have seen this election season. Journalists have been taken out of rallies and peaceful protesters have not been allowed to enter public events. He has suggested violence towards protesters many times. This should matter. This should sway our vote. These are our rights and we have to hold them close at all costs.

One argument that I have seen in favor of voting for this man is that he is the better choice “as long as he does not take away our guns.” But there is no candidate suggesting that all guns should be taken away, they are simply asking for regulation. The second amendment is a fundamental right. I will not and do not argue that. However, do gun regulations go against this amendment?

"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

--Second Amendment

This amendment actually calls for a "well-regulated Militia." Regulation is in the amendment itself and it is still protested. The right to bear arms does not get taken away by regulation, so why is this such a prominent single issue vote?

So after actually reading our amendments word for word I am going to propose a potentially unpopular idea. Maybe in this election the factor that should be more important regarding our vote should be the first amendment rather than a single issue voting over guns. Guns are less powerful than words and, whether for good or for evil, speech is a clearly stated right.

I like to think that this year will be written in our history books as an ugly time. I hope, with this thought in mind that the most volatile parts of this history will not be skipped over, that the very groundwork's of our nation will not suffer as they have in the past. This is not the first time in history that our right to assembly and free speech has been threatened. It is the first time in history however, that my generation can step up and do something about it. Let your voice be heard so that is does not get taken away.