So here is a question, then---is the Bill of Rights a set of inalienable rights that all people have, or just people that are "ours"?
Either they are inalienable human rights, or they aren't.
At what point in time do people give up those rights? According to settled law in the U.S., after they are convicted of a crime. We don't normally take away rights before that point.
So----is everyone equal in the eyes of the law? Or are some people covered by the law, and some aren't?
Think about this for a second----why is it that suddenly geographic location is the defining characteristic of whether or not you are a human that has rights?
Another way to think about it: Do we really want to allow the government to start making up their own definitions of which people are really "people"?
"Some are more equal than others."
Last I knew, our Declaration of Independence said "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"
....but those things that we consider Rights only count if you are a United States citizen on U.S. soil?
Yes, I know there is a difference between law and philosophy. So my question here for legal purposes is still "Do we want the government to define who is a person for the purposes of seeing whether or not they have any rights?" and my question for philosophical purposes is this: "If you say that the 2nd amendment is a fundamental right, a right to self-defense, a right that everyone should have----is the end of that statement ...but only if you are a U.S. citizen?"
(Whether or not other countries DO accept that right is not the point. Whether you believe it is a fundamental human right IS the point. And the rest of the things that we consider rights go right along with it.)
This bill is about the U.S. not applying its own laws to how it deals with people. (And ignoring other people's laws, too, since we already do that.)
And this isn't about whether or not murdering scumbag trash get what they deserve--it is about whether or not WE really believe what we talk about when we say that people have rights. (I'm all for terrorists getting their heads blown off. This, however, is not the point.)
When you say "people have rights!" do you mean "because the Bill of Rights says so!" or do you mean "Because these are fundamental human rights!" ---because ONE of those cases can be changed because it is simply a law promulgated and enforced by a government, just like any other.
