The Second Amendment Solution
Henry Bowman - Posted: 08.25.00
I can hear the groans: not another Second Amendment article. Well, yes, but perhaps containing a few facts that are not widely known that may possibly be useful in the defense of our gun rights positions, or of yourself when standing before the Bar.
Most of us know that the Second Amendment does not "grant" us any right to keep and bear arms, but rather acts as a prohibition on government to not infringe on this right. What many do not know, however, is that when the other side says that the Supreme Court has never tackled the issue, they are simply lying. A few citations will suffice.
in 1857 (1) that citizens rights include the right "to keep and carry arms wherever they want."
in 1876 (2) that the Constitution did not grant a right to arms but that the right to arms long predates the Constitution and is not dependent upon that document for its existence.
in 1886 (3) that "the states cannot prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms."
in 1895 (4) that individuals have the right to possess and use firearms for self-defense.
in 1897 (5) that the right to arms is an ancient and "fundamental" right, "inherited from our English ancestors," and has existed "from time immemorial."
and more recently,
in 1990 (6) that the term "the people," as used in the Second and other amendments, and elsewhere in the Constitution, means all the individuals who make up our national community.
There are others, but these should get the discussion going.
From time to time the anti's propose repealing the Second Amendment. Should you find yourself facing a left-wing, warm-and-fuzzy bedwetter espousing this view, educate them to the fact that the entire Bill of Rights is immune from such action, since the inclusion of the Bill of Rights was a prerequisite for nine of the thirteen colonies ratifying the new Constitution in the period 1787-1791. But for the inclusion of the Bill of Rights, there would be no Constitution.
If the whiner persists in this vein, just tell him that you would agree to amending the Second Amendment so as to make it consistent with the doctrines and beliefs of the Founders, to wit: "Save for lunatics and violent felons, as so adjudged by a competent court of jurisdiction, the right of the people individually and collectively to keep and bear arms for any purpose whatsoever is and shall remain inviolate. This amendment applies to weapons of any form, and specifically includes such weapons as are currently in use by the military forces of the United States or any other sovereign state."
This rewording is completely in accord with the views of the Founders. When you hear that Jefferson, Madison, et al could not have intended for citizens to own machine guns because such things didn't exist in their time, ask the speaker if his thinking also applies to the banning of radio and television from protection under the First Amendment for like reasons.
Of course, we all know that trying to win this argument with logic and facts is like wrestling with a pig; you can't win, you will get filthy, and the pig likes it. Speaking of pigs, however . . . .
Henry Bowman
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NOTES:
01. Scott v. Sanford, 60 US 691, 705 (1857)
02. United States v. Cruikshank, 92 US 542, 553 (1876)
03. Presser v. Illinois, 116 US 252 (1886)
04. Beard v. United States, 158 US 550 (1895)
05. Robertson v. Baldwin, 165 US 275 (1897)
06. United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, No. 88-1353 (1990)
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When women are disarmed, a rapist will never hear - Stop or I'll shoot!
Armed Citizens SAVE Lives!
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Gun</A> Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a
woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.
"Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum
est" ("A sword is never a killer, it's a tool in the killer's hands")
Lucius Annaeus Seneca "the younger" ca. (4 BC - 65 AD)