Courts Should Utilize Preambles

The courts, including the Supreme Court, should utilize the preamble to the Constitution more in their decisions because the preamble states the goals of the Constitution and therefore our government. The preamble reads, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." How would the courts use the preamble to guide their decisions? As an example, let’s take the cases around the 2nd amendment, “the right to keep and bear arms.” For this topic, what values in the preamble are most relevant? I think “Domestic Tranquility,” “general Welfare,” and “liberty.” Importantly, the value of “Liberty” can be in conflict with the values of “general Welfare” and “domestic Tranquility” in that a few gun owners have misused their liberty to own a gun to cause great harm including but not limited to mass shootings. Because the preamble states all these values, it calls on us seek the optimum balance between them. I believe we are currently out of balance on this topic as evidenced by the recent wave of mass shootings and gun violence with few restrictions on the liberty to buy a gun. To restore balance, I would put more emphasis on the values of “domestic Tranquility” and “general Welfare” even if it takes away some liberty in being able to buy and own a gun, but only to an acceptable level that would not overly infringe on this liberty. Not being an expert on this myself, I would use the best peer-reviewed research to evaluate tactics such as stronger background checks with no loopholes, red flag laws, and limits on number of rounds in a magazine. Likewise, the preamble to the Declaration of Independence states the goals for our government (to be continued).