Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:00:00
A Second Amendment victory
A common-sense individualistic interpretation of the Second Amendment:
To summarize, we conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad). In addition, the right to keep and bear arms had the important and salutary civic purpose of helping to preserve the citizen militia. The civic purpose was also a political expedient for the Federalists in the First Congress as it served, in part, to placate their Antifederalist opponents. The individual right facilitated militia service by ensuring that citizens would not be barred from keeping the arms they would need when called forth for militia duty. Despite the importance of the Second Amendment’s civic purpose, however, the activities it protects are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual’s enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia.
Hit the link for background on the case from which this decision comes.
Everywhere I have seen this story, people more well-versed in the law are saying it has an excellent chance of going to the Supreme Court and being upheld as the law of the land. I consider that nothing less than a victory - we’ll never have to argue if the Second is an individual versus a collective right again. It makes many gun control measures moot and will reduce the ability of politicians to issue wholesale bans. Now, if you read my bablings often, you know I like things to be as small and as local as possible...except Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Those must apply to all citizens. I support some common-sense gun and gun safety laws, but with 20+ thousand federal laws already on the books...we’re full up, thanks.
Hat tip: Drumwaster
Posted by JimK at 09:00 PM on March 09, 2007
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Categories: News, Politics, Guns - 2nd Amendment
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Technorati: Second Amendment guns politics
Comments:
#2 Posted by Harley W Daugherty 
on 03/10 at 09:44 AM -
hmmmm when can i go to my FF dealer and order a Armalite 25mm payload rifle?
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Loved the Mayor of DC mewling about this and how it was going to make guns magically appear in the hands of teenagers.
Stuff like this just proves what I’ve been saying: Democrats want to seize guns because guns would stand in the way of bigger and more powerful government. (Not that Republicans have exactly been downsizing the government lately, but still.)